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LIBRARY 

Uf^(VERSlTY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


ESSAYS  IN  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  •   BOSTON  •    CHICAGO 
ATLANTA  •    SAN  FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Limited 

LONDON  •  BOMBAY  •  CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


ESSAYS 


IN 


MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


JOHN  L   FAjIRLIE,   Ph.D. 

PK0FES80R  OF  ADMINISTRATIVE  LAW  IN  THE   UNIVERSITT  OF  MICHIGAN 
ADTHOR    OF    "THE    CENTRALIZATION    OF    ADMINISTRATION    IN    NEW 
YORK    STATE,"    "MUNICIPAL    ADMINISTRATION,"     "NATIONAL 
ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,"  "  LOCAL  GOV- 
ERNMENT IN  COUNTIES,  TOWNS,  AND  VILLAGES,"  ETC. 


THE  MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

1908 

All  rights  reserved 


COPTKIOHT,   1908, 

bt  the  macmillan  company. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  January.  1908. 


KorinooU  l&xtis 

J.  8.  Cashing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 

Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

This  volume  of  essays  does  not  profess  to  be  in  any  sense 
a  systematic  and  comprehensive  discussion  of  municipal 
government.  It  is  a  series  of  papers  and  articles  on  special 
topics  that  have  been  prepared  under  varying  circumstances 
and  for  different  purposes ;  and  under  these  conditions  they 
show  considerable  variety  in  method  of  treatment.  But  it 
is  believed  that  some  readers  concerned  in  municipal  ques- 
tions will  find  it  convenient  to  have  these  essays  collected 
together  where  they  may  be  made  more  readily  available. 

In  arranging  the  essays  an  attempt  has  been  made  to 
group  those  most  closely  related.  In  the  first  group  are 
those  relating  to  problems  of  organization  and  the  legal 
relation  of  cities  to  the  state.  In  the  second  group  are  those 
dealing  with  municipal  functions  and  activities.  The  third 
group  presents  some  observations  on  municipal  government 
in  Europe  made  during  a  visit  in  the  year  1906.  And  the 
last  essay,  on  Instruction  in  Municipal  Government,  stands 
in  a  class  by  itself. 

Most  of  these  articles  have  been  previously  published  in 
various  magazines  and  journals,  or  delivered  before  several 
societies.  My  thanks  are  due  to  the  editors  of  these  jour- 
nals and  the  officers  of  the  societies  for  permission  to  reprint 
in  this  volume.  More  specific  acknowledgments  will  be 
found  in  the  footnotes  at  the  beginning  of  each  article. 
Many  of  these  articles  have  been  revised,  and  a  few  have 
been  largely  rewritten  in  order  to  include  the  record  of  later 
events.  One  paper  —  on  the  Revenue  Systems  of  American 
and  European  Cities  —  is  the  joint  work  of  Professor  Charles 
E.  Merriam,  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  and  myself. 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  witin  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.arcliive.org/details/essaysinmunicipaOOfairiala 


CONTENTS 


PAOK 

I.    Some  Phases  of  Municipal  Government    ...        1 


n.    Problems  of  American  City  Government  from  the 
Administrative  Point  op  View 

III.  The  Relation  of  Civil  Service  Reform  to  Munl 

ciPAL  Administration 

IV.  Municipal  Corporations  in  the  Colonies  . 
V.    The  Municipal  Crisis  in  Ohio      .... 

VI.    Municipal  Codes  in  the  Middle  West 
VII.    American  Municipal  Councils      .... 


11 

39 

48 

95 

110 

125 


Vni.    Recent   Legislation    on    Municipal   Functions   in 

the  United  States 145 

IX.    Public  Works  Administration  in  American  Cities  164 

X.    Revenue  Systems  of  American  and  Foreign  Cities  173 

XI.    Municipal  Electric  Lighting  in  Detroit          .        .  219 

XII.    The  Street  Railway  Question  in  Chicago      .        .  230 

XIII.  Some  Considerations  on  Municipal  Ownership  of 

Public  Utilities 262 

XIV.  Comparative  Municipal  Statistics     ....  275 


XV.  Municipal  Activities  in  Great  Britain    .        .        .  287 

XVI.  Municipal  Conditions  in  Some  European  Cities      .  303 

XVn.  Municipal  Government  in  Vienna      ....  316 

XVIII.  Municipal  Government  in  Italy         ....  330 


XIX.    Instruction  in  Municipal  Government     .        .        .    350 
Index 361 


I 

SOME  PHASES   OF  MUNICIPAL  GOVERNMENT* 

Municipal  Government  is  so  large  and  so  complicated  a 
subject  that  when  one  is  asked  to  speak  on  the  broad  general 
topic,  it  is  no  easy  matter  to  decide  what  aspect  to  discuss. 
There  are  the  exciting  and  dramatic  events  of  municipal 
politics  in  particular  cities;  there  are  the  difficult  legal 
problems  of  municipal  organization  and  the  relation  of  cities 
to  the  state  government ;  and  there  are  a  long  series  of  special 
subjects  connected  with  the  everyday  work  of  municipal 
officials.  Instead  of  considering  any  of  these  subjects,  how- 
ever, I  shall  attempt  here  simply  to  emphasize  the  general 
importance  of  municipal  government  by  a  brief  sketch  of  the 
development  of  cities  and  their  functions,  with  some  reference 
to  the  defects  of  American  municipal  management  and  means 
of  improving  the  situation. 

By  municipal  government  is  meant  the  local  government 
in  cities;  and  it  should  be  of  some  interest  at  the  outset  to 
note  the  rapid  recent  development  of  cities  as  the  fundamental 
fact  in  making  the  problems  of  their  government  of  vital  con- 
cern. Cities  have  existed  since  the  earliest  period  of  recorded 
history;  and  even  large  cities  developed  in  ancient  times  — 
especially  during  the  time  of  the  Roman  Empire,  when  there 
were  several  of  over  half  a  million  population,  while  Rome 
itself  had  at  least  a  million.  But  with  the  decline  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  cities  also  declined;  and  although  at  the 
end  of  the  mediaeval  period  there  was  a  brilliant  revival  of 
city  life,  notably  in  Italy  and  Germany,  the  cities  of  that 
time  by  no  means  equalled  those  of  antiquity.  Beginning, 
however,  in  England  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 

*  Revised  from  an  address  delivered  at  Ann  Arbor  in  1902. 

B  1 


2  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

century,  the  growth  of  cities  both  in  number  and  in  size  assumed 
a  rapid  and  accelerating  rate.  Spreading  to  other  countries, 
especially  in  Europe  and  America,  this  new  movement  by  the 
early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  easily  surpassed  that 
of  the  Roman  period.  Increasing  by  its  own  momentum, 
the  process  has  continued  and  is  continuing  until  one  almost 
fears  to  consider  its  future  possibilities.  A  hundred  years 
ago  there  were  in  all  Europe  less  than  a  score  of  cities  with 
over  100,000  population,  and  not  one  such  city  in  America. 
To-day  there  are  two  hundred  cities  of  this  size  in  Europe 
and  America.  The  total  population  in  cities  of  this  class  has 
increased  from  4^  to  60  millions,  and  from  less  than  3  per  cent 
to  one-eighth  of  the  total.  At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century  there  were  less  than  two  hundred  cities  of  over 
10,000  population  in  all  the  civilized  world ;  and  their  aggre- 
gate population  was  but  10  millions,  less  than  6  per  cent  of 
the  total.  To-day,  such  cities  are  to  be  counted  by  the 
thousand  —  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  have  each 
nearly  five  hundred  —  and  their  aggregate  population  is 
more  than  100  millions,  or  over  one-fifth  of  the  total 
in  the  civilized  countries.  In  1800  not  a  single  city  in  the 
world  was  known  to  have  over  a  million  inhabitants.  At 
present,  there  are  nine  such  in  Europe  and  America,  and 
four  others  in  Asia. 

This  increase  in  urban  communities  and  urban  population  — 
which  even  our  strongest  adjectives  fail  fitly  to  characterize  — 
has  meant  much  more  than  a  corresponding  increase  in  the 
work  and  importance  of  municipal  government.  The  growth 
of  these  dense  masses  of  compact  population  has  not  merely 
increased  the  old  lines  of  municipal  activity;  it  has  brought 
about  new  conditions  which  demanded  the  exercise  of  new 
functions  to  make  life  in  the  cities  even  as  satisfactory  as 
life  in  the  country.  It  has  also  brought  the  opportunity  and 
the  means  for  developing  still  other  lines  of  activity  —  impos- 
sible in  rural  communities  —  which  add  to  the  comfort  and 
convenience  of  life,  and  permit  of  further  progress  in  the 


SOME   PHASES   OF   MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT  3 

arts  of  civilization.  Other  factors  have  also  come  into  play. 
The  progress  of  scientific  knowledge  and  its  application  has 
opened  the  way  to  further  fields  of  municipal  action.  The 
influence  of  democratic  ideas  and  the  humanizing  spirit  has 
promoted  still  more  additions  to  municipal  functions,  so  that 
the  masses  of  the  population  may  share  in  the  social,  intel- 
lectual, and  aesthetic  aspects  of  life,  hitherto  confined  to  the 
well-to-do.  These  causes  have  indeed  broadened  and  deep- 
ened the  scope  of  all  forms  of  governmental  action;  but 
especially  within  the  cities  has  the  work  of  the  municipal 
authorities  expanded  with  stupendous  increments,  far  beyond 
even  the  startling  development  of  cities  and  city  population. 

Look  for  a  few  moments  in  broad  outline  at  the  duties  and 
activities  which  engage  the  energies  of  a  modem  municipal 
government.  In  the  first  place  are  the  protective  functions 
of  maintaining  peace,  order,  and  health.  These  are,  it  is  true, 
also  primary  duties  of  the  state  governments  through  their  legis- 
lative statutes  and  systems  of  judicial  courts.  But  the  en- 
forcement of  the  laws  and  the  operation  of  the  courts  depend 
in  large  part  on  the  efficiency  of  the  municipal  police,  while 
urban  conditions  demand  local  regulations  for  the  public 
safety  not  covered  by  the  general  laws  of  the  state.  So  we 
find  in  our  cities  that  the  old  night  watchman  with  his  staff 
and  bell  has  given  way  to  the  organized,  uniformed,  and 
disciplined  police  force  of  a  quasi-military  character.  For 
the  protection  of  property  from  the  dangers  of  fire,  the 
volunteer  company  with  its  hand  buckets  has  been  supplanted 
by  the  paid  brigade  of  disciplined  men  equipped  with  a  host 
of  mechanical  appliances.  The  prevention  and  suppression 
of  contagious  diseases  is  intrusted  to  scientifically  trained 
health  officers,  aided  in  larger  cities  by  corps  of  expert  assist- 
ants also  trained  in  the  details  of  sanitary  science. 

But  municipal  governments  of  to-day  do  vastly  more  than 
this  protective  work  of  warding  off  danger  from  the  citizens. 
They  enter  aggressively  on  large  fields  of  labor  which  add 
positively  to  the  convenience,  comfort,  and  well-being  of  the 


4  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

people.  On  the  material  side  alone  functions  of  this  sort 
provide  us  with  what  seem  now  to  be  essentials  of  city  life. 
The  plotting,  grading,  and  paving  of  streets  and  sidewalks, 
and  the  construction  of  drainage  systems  are  municipal  duties 
in  the  smallest  cities.  In  most  cities,  too,  the  supply  of  water, 
not  only  for  public  purposes,  but  for  private  consumption,  is 
clearly  accepted  as  a  municipal  function.  Other  related 
matters  of  municipal  concern  are  the  lighting  and  local 
transportation  systems ;  and  although  most  often  the  immedi- 
ate management  of  these  are  intrusted  to  private  corporations, 
these  corporations  depend  upon  rights  from  the  city;  while 
in  Great  Britain  and  Germany  these  undertakings  are  to  a 
large  extent  managed  directly  by  the  municipal  authorities, 
and  in  the  United  States  there  is  a  growing  tendency  toward 
municipal  ownership  of  public  lighting  plants.  In  this  group 
of  activities  we  may  place  also  the  provisions  of  parks  and 
other  recreation  grounds  for  the  people. 

Still  another  group  of  municipal  functions  are  those  of  a 
charitable  nature ;  and  these  have  developed  from  the  simple 
relief  of  starving  paupers  to  the  maintenance  of  homes  for  the 
aged  and  infirm,  hospitals  where  the  sick  may  be  restored  to 
health  and  vigor,  and  other  minor  forms  of  philanthropic 
effort. 

In  addition  to  these  means  of  ministering  to  the  material 
and  physical  needs  of  the  community,  the  modern  munici- 
pality does  a  vast  and  increasing  work  for  the  development 
of  the  intellectual,  aesthetic,  and  moral  faculties  of  the  citizens. 
Even  the  elementary  schools  of  to-day  do  much  more  than 
teach  their  pupils  how  to  read  and  write,  to  add  and  mul- 
tiply; while  these  are  supplemented  by  high  schools  and 
public  libraries;  and  in  not  a  few  places  are  to  be  found 
municipal  museums  of  art  and  science,  municipal  theatres 
and  opera  houses,  and  even  municipal  universities. 

Does  this  outline  indicate  too  broad  a  realm  of  municipal 
activity?  If  so,  one  can  only  emphasize  that  this  has  not 
been  a  promise  of  the  future,  but  what  is  now  being  attempted 


SOME   PHASES   OF   MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT  5 

and  at  least  in  part  accomplished  at  the  present  time.  The 
various  functions  named  are  those  now  being  exercised,  not 
only  in  the  largest  cities,  but  also  in  smaller  places  and  in  all 
the  progressive  countries  of  the  world. 

Perhaps  we  may  perceive  faintly  something  of  the  signifi- 
cance of  this  expansive  field  of  action,  by  a  fact  or  two  about 
the  expenditure  it  involves.  A  hundred  years  ago  the  city 
of  New  York  with  a  population  of  60,000  spent  about  $100,000 
a  year,  or  less  than  $2  per  capita.  To-day  that  city  spends 
for  current  maintenance  and  operation  of  the  various  munici- 
pal institutions  over  $100,000,000  a  year,  or  $25  per  capita; 
and  a  variable  number  of  millions  in  addition  for  construction 
of  new  municipal  works.  Smaller  cities  spend  rather  less 
proportionately;  but  to  show  that  this  development  is  not 
confined  to  the  largest  cities  we  may  recall  that  in  the  city 
of  Ann  Arbor  (with  a  population  of  15,000)  the  annual  taxes 
amoimt  to  $150,000  a  year,  or  five  times  as  much  per  capita 
as  they  were  in  New  York  when  that  city  had  four  times 
the  present  population  of  Ann  Arbor. 

If  these  facts  suggest  anything  of  the  importance  of  the 
work  of  municipal  government,  there  should  be  little  need  of 
urging  the  interest  and  concern  of  every  good  citizen  in  that 
work  and  the  government  which  has  it  in  charge.  But  there 
are  other  considerations  which  show  that  it  is  necessary  to 
arouse  the  attention  and  energy  of  many  people  if  the  work 
in  this  country  is  to  be  done  efficiently  and  thoroughly.  Mu- 
nicipal government  in  America  has  been  and  is  subject  to  con- 
stant and  severe  criticism ;  and  it  can  be  stated  positively  that 
it  is  not  only  far  below  what  is  possible,  but  that  in  many  respects 
it  is  below  the  standards  of  accomplishment  in  other  coun- 
tries of  the  world,  which  do  not  have  our  advantages  and  are 
usually  considered  inferior  in  most  respects  to  our  own. 

Mr.  Bryce,  the  well-known  British  critic  of  our  institutions, 
has  said  that  our  municipal  government  is  a  failure  —  "  the 
one  conspicuous  failure,"  in  fact.  And  many  others  have 
accepted    and   reiterated   his   judgment.     The   statement, 


6  ESSAYS  IN   MUNiaPAL   ADMINISTKATION 

however,  like  most  rhetorical  generalizations,  is  too  sweeping 
and  too  indefinite;  and  it  will  be  more  exact  to  speak  of  the 
failures  or  defects  than  to  brand  the  whole  by  a  term  which 
indicates  a  complete  lack  of  success. 

Of  these  defects  in  American  municipal  government,  we 
may  note  first  the  frequent  disclosure  of  gross  corruption  of 
and  by  municipal  officials.  From  the  time  of  the  Tweed  Ring 
in  New  York  to  the  latest  revelations  in  San  Francisco  the 
existence  of  corrupt  officials  has  been  made  notoriously  evi- 
dent from  time  to  time  and  from  one  city  to  another.  And 
it  is  such  cases  which  give  rise  to  the  impression  in  some  quar- 
ters that  a  chronic  state  of  flagrant  corruption  is  the  normal 
condition  in  most  American  cities.  But  I  venture  to  believe 
that  cases  of  gross  corruption,  such  as  those  mentioned,  are 
on  the  whole  exceptional;  that  they  are  sometimes  exagger- 
ated by  the  heated  language  of  exciting  political  contests, 
and  the  demands  of  the  newspaper  press  and  its  readers  for 
sensational  news ;  and  that  when  they  occur,  —  as  they  do 
far  too  often,  —  they  are  the  out-croppings  of  more  per- 
manent and  more  general  defects  in  our  municipal  govern- 
ment. And  it  may  be  said  that  the  undue  emphasis  laid 
on  notorious  cases  of  gross  corruption  tends  to  delude  the 
people  in  the  many  cities  where  no  such  cases  have  arisen 
into  believing  that  their  municipal  government  is  as  good  as 
it  can  be  made. 

But  these  more  permanent  and  more  general  defects  need 
more  special  attention.  They  may  be  summed  up  under  two 
general  heads :  waste,  and  inadequate  service.  On  the  one 
hand,  the  municipal  work  does  not  meet  the  needs  of  the 
community.  Things  undertaken  are  poorly  done,  or  under- 
taken on  too  small  a  scale;  and  many  things  which  ought 
to  be  done  are  not  attempted  at  all.  The  streets  may  be 
kept  in  no  better  order  —  perhaps  not  so  good  —  as  a  cross- 
country road.  The  police  force  may  be  insufficient  in  number 
and  lack  training  and  discipline.  The  water-supply  may  be 
unsanitary.    And  the  public  library  and  other  institutions 


SOME   PHASES   OP  MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT  7 

may  be  noticeable  only  by  their  absence.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  cost  of  the  works  undertaken  is  too  often  in  excess  of 
the  results  accomplished  or  the  results  needed.  At  one  time, 
the  waste  may  be  due  to  extravagance  in  starting  some 
work  on  a  larger  scale  than  is  necessary;  at  another  time,  to  a 
mistaken  effort  at  economy  in  beginning  a  petty  scheme, 
when  a  larger  one  presently  appears  essential ;  or  still  again,  to 
simple  carelessness  and  ignorance  in  executing  the  details 
of  any  project. 

The  proximate  causes  of  these  defects  are  to  be  found  partly 
in  our  municipal  legislation,  partly  in  the  officials.  Those 
due  to  legislation  shall  be  passed  over  briefly  at  this  time,  as 
the  legal  problems  involve  much  difficult  technical  discussion, 
for  which  there  is  no  room  here,  while  the  remedies  lie  largely 
with  the  state  legislatures.  Their  general  nature  may  be 
briefly  noted  as  a  lack  of  legal  power  conferred  on  the  city, 
the  absence  in  most  cases  of  any  definite  principles  of  munici- 
pal organization,  and  the  confusing  practice  of  special  and 
detailed  legislation.  The  causes  due  to  municipal  officials 
may  be  reduced  to  two :  ignorance,  and  moral  deficiency.  By 
ignorance  is  not  meant  necessarily  illiteracy,  or  even  lack 
of  a  good  general  education,  but  ignorance  of  the  matters 
which  the  officials  are  charged  to  perform.  This  is  some- 
times due  to  a  lack  of  general  ability,  sometimes  to  lack  of 
knowledge  and  experience,  —  the  latter  lack  being  continually 
renewed  by  the  custom  of  changing  officials  as  soon  as  they 
have  learned  the  duties  of  their  offices.  Many  of  the  elective 
offices  in  most  of  our  cities  have  no  political  functions  to  per- 
form; and  the  most  efficient  administration  can  only  be 
secured  by  retaining  experienced  men  in  such  positions  as 
long  as  possible.  The  term  "moral  deficiency  "  is  broad  enough 
to  cover  the  most  flagrant  case  of  bribery;  but  there  is  a 
large  number  of  municipal  officials  who  would  probably  scorn 
a  direct  bribe  and  yet  fail  to  see  that  they  are  guilty  of  much 
the  same  kind  of  delinquency  whenever  they  appoint  any  one 
to  a  position  in  the  public  service  without  reference  to  his 


8  ESSAYS  IN  MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

competence  and  because  of  personal  or  party  affiliations. 
Where  incompetence  and  lack  of  moral  stamina  are  combined 
in  one  official,  the  results  are  likely  to  be  so  intolerable  as 
to  rouse  public  opinion  and  secure  at  least  a  temporary  im- 
provement at  the  succeeding  election.  But  it  often  happens 
that  the  scheming  and  sordid  politician  has  the  practical 
knowledge  and  experience  of  municipal  problems  which  the 
man  of  undoubted  integrity  lacks.  The  former  must  become 
imbued  with  higher  principles,  the  latter  must  add  to  his 
character  knowledge  and  experience  in  municipal  affairs, 
before  either  can  make  a  satisfactory  official. 

But  our  analysis  must  go  behind  the  delinquencies  of  the 
officials  to  the  reasons  which  explain  why  such  persons  are 
chosen  to  office ;  and  here  we  shall  find  the  principal  ultimate 
causes  of  the  defects  in  our  municipal  government. 

Among  the  important  factors  which  result  in  the  selection 
of  municipal  officials  who  are  either  incompetent  or  dishonest, 
or  otherwise  deficient  in  their  standards  of  public  duty,  we 
may  note  first  the  influence  of  political  parties  and  their 
organized  machinery.  This  influence  is  aggravated  in  many 
places  by  the  characters  of  the  men  who  have  gained  control 
of  the  local  party  organizations;  and  this  aggravation  may 
be  reduced  by  legislation  regulating  party  primaries  and 
nominations.  But  even  if  this  reform  were  effectively  accom- 
plished, so  long  as  voting  at  municipal  elections  is  based  on 
national  party  affiliations  it  will  be  impossible  to  secure  the 
best  municipal  officials  and  the  best  municipal  government. 
In  many  European  cities  the  political  organizations  for 
municipal  elections  have  no  connection  with  the  national 
party  organizations;  and  in  several  American  cities  there 
have  been  formed  similar  independent  local  organizations, 
which  in  some  cases  —  notably  in  Cambridge,  Mass.  —  have 
kept  the  national  parties  out  of  the  field  of  municipal  elections. 
Even  where  this  plan  is  not  adopted,  it  is  still  possible  for 
the  individual  voter  to  exercise  freely  his  right  of  independent 
voting  between  the  various  candidates  of  the  different  parties. 


SOME   PHASES   OF   MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT  9 

This  latter  plan  has  been  followed  effectively  in  Chicago, 
where  a  special  organization  known  as  the  Municipal  Voters' 
League  devotes  itself,  not  to  making  nominations,  but  to 
making  non-partisan  investigations  of  the  various  candidates 
of  all  parties,  and  publishing  their  information  for  the  benefit 
of  the  voters. 

But  either  of  these  plans  for  offsetting  the  defects  of  par- 
tisan-voting at  municipal  elections  requires  for  its  success  an 
intelligent,  public-spirited  interest  on  the  part  of  the  citizens. 
And  it  is  the  lack  of  this  intelligent  interest  which  is  probably 
the  most  important  factor  in  the  choice  of  improper  officials. 
This  criticism  of  the  voters  is  precisely  similar  to  that  pre- 
viously made  in  reference  to  the  officials.  There  is,  first,  an 
intellectual  deficiency  —  ignorance ;  and  secondly,  moral 
deficiencies.  In  our  large  cities  the  ignorance  is  to  a  large 
extent  the  ignorance  of  the  illiterate;  but  both  there  and  in 
smaller  cities  there  is  too  often  a  less  excusable  ignorance  on 
the  part  of  the  best  educated  classes  in  the  community  as  to 
the  organization  and  functions  of  the  municipal  government 
and  the  character  and  competence  of  the  candidates  for  mu- 
nicipal office.  So  too,  the  moral  deficiencies  are,  on  the  one 
hand,  those  of  the  poorer  classes,  varying  from  the  acceptance 
of  a  direct  bribe  to  voting  out  of  gratitude  for  personal  favors ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  those  of  the  well-to-do  and  educated 
classes  from  bribe-giving  to  a  selfish  indifference  to  the 
interests  of  the  community. 

So  long  as  these  conditions  continue  among  the  inhabitants 
of  our  cities,  no  improvement  in  laws  and  the  machinery  of 
government  will  suffice  to  secure  permanently  satisfactory 
municipal  administration.  What  is  needed  above  all  is  the 
education  of  the  citizens  both  mentally  and  morally,  —  by 
instruction  in  the  nature  and  functions  of  municipal  govern- 
ment and  the  qualifications  of  candidates  for  office,  and  by 
the  inculcation  of  higher  standards  in  the  exercise  of  their 
duties  as  citizens.  Perhaps,  more  than  anything  else,  it  is 
essential  to  overcome  the  indifference  of  those  engrossed  in 


10  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

business,  professional,  and  social  life,  to  make  them  realize 
their  concern  in  the  public  life  of  the  community,  to  induce 
them  to  inform  themselves  on  the  municipal  affairs  of  their 
locality  and  to  become  active  workers  for  the  improvement 
of  local  conditions.  Sometimes  the  attempt  is  made  to 
arouse  this  public  interest  simply  as  an  unpleasant  duty, 
which  calls  for  a  sacrifice  of  individual  interests  for  the  sake 
of  others.  It  is  vastly  better  and  nearer  the  truth  to  empha- 
size the  interrelation  between  the  interests  of  the  individuals 
and  the  interests  of  the  community.  There  is  need  for  the 
development  of  a  larger  social  consciousness,  for  the  realiza- 
tion of  the  mutual  interdependence  of  all  the  citizens  of  a 
community  and  the  importance  of  the  common  life,  for  a 
fuller  appreciation  of  the  thought  that  "none  of  us  liveth 
to  himself."  This  is  the  new  philosophy  of  society.  It  is 
also  an  old  philosophy  that  has  never  been  better  expressed 
than  in  the  fable  which  the  old  Roman  Menenius  Agrippa 
told  the  seceding  Plebeians  nearly  2500  years  ago :  "  Once 
upon  a  time  the  members  of  the  body  refused  to  work  any 
longer  for  the  stomach,  which  led  a  lazy  life  and  enjoyed  all 
the  benefit  of  their  labors.  But  receiving  no  longer  any 
nourishment  from  the  stomach,  they  soon  began  to  pine  away, 
and  found  that  it  was  to  the  stomach  they  owed  their  life 
and  strength." 


II 

PROBLEMS     OF     AMERICAN    CITY    GOVERNMENT 
FROM  THE  ADMINISTRATIVE  POINT  OF  VIEW^ 

Much  has  been  written  during  recent  years  about  the  defects 
of  American  municipal  government.  And  all  sorts  of  reme- 
dies have  been  proposed,  and  many  of  them  put  to  the  test 
of  experience.  Discussion  and  agitation,  followed  by  legisla- 
tion and  the  election  of  better  officials,  have  wrought  great 
improvement  in  many  communities ;  and  even  the  most  recent 
disclosures  of  intolerable  conditions  have  been  signs  of  an 
awakened  public  opinion  and  the  direct  cause  of  uprooting 
some  evils.  But  no  one  has  suggested  that  we  have  as  yet 
reached  a  state  of  perfection  in  municipal  government,  or 
that  we  are  in  any  immediate  danger  of  attaining  such  a  state. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to  discuss  all  of  the  prob- 
lems that  have  arisen  in  connection  with  our  municipal  affairs, 
nor  to  propose  remedies  for  all  of  the  difficulties  and  evils 
that  still  exist.  No  attention  will  be  given  to  such  questions 
as  the  scope  of  municipal  functions  or  the  political  substructure 
underlying  the  organization  of  government.  The  task  here 
undertaken  is  to  consider  only  those  features  of  the  complex 
municipal  situation  on  which  a  student  of  public  administra- 
tion may  be  supposed  to  be  able  to  throw  some  light. 

These  features  may  be  considered  under  two  main  heads: 
(1)  the  problems  connected  with  the  local  machinery  of 
municipal  organization  and  the  interrelations  of  local  officials; 
and  (2)  the  problems  connected  with  the  relations  of  the  city 
to  the  government  of  the  state.  Under  each  division,  the 
existing  arrangements  will  be  briefly  summarized,  their  defects 

'  Reprinted  from  the  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Social  and 
PolUical  Science,  XXVII,  132  (January,  1906). 

11 


12  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

will  be  pointed  out  and  the  various  remedies  hitherto  applied, 
and  plans  will  be  suggested  for  future  action.  It  will  be  ad- 
mitted frankly  that  no  scheme  of  purely  administrative 
reform  will  offer  a  complete  solution  of  all  the  municipal 
problems;  but  it  is  a  false  logic  which  deduces  from  this  the 
belief  that  administrative  reform  is  of  no  importance;  and 
this  paper  is  written  in  the  conviction  that  some  of  the  funda- 
mental difficulties  are  administrative  in  character,  and  that 
administrative  reforms  are  among  the  essential  conditions 
of  successful  municipal  government  in  this  country.  The 
basis  for  the  discussion  of  administrative  reforms  will  be  found 
in  a  municipal  program,  adopted  by  the  National  Municipal 
League;  but  amendments  to  this  plan  as  seem  desirable  will 
also  be  suggested. 

LOCAL  ORGANIZATION 

One  of  the  first  facts  that  becomes  obvious  to  any  student 
of  municipal  government  in  the  United  States  is  the  confused 
and  complicated  variety  of  local  administrative  arrange- 
ments, and  the  lack  of  consistent  principles  of  municipal 
organization,  not  only  in  the  cities  as  a  whole,  but  even  in 
most  of  the  cities  taken  individually.  Starting  with  a  simple 
system  of  council  government,  this  was  first  altered  about 
1820  by  a  limited  application  of  the  theory  of  the  separation 
of  legislative  and  executive  powers  in  the  popular  election  of 
mayors;  while  subsequently  (since  1850)  the  division  of 
municipal  powers  in  the  hands  of  separate  and  largely  inde- 
pendent authorities  has  been  developed  to  a  remarkable 
degree,  without  any  guiding  principle  and  in  a  way  that 
defies  generalization  or  classification.  In  more  recent  years, 
some  of  our  cities  have  secured  a  system  of  municipal  organi- 
zation based  in  part  at  least  on  some  fundamental  ideas. 
These  have  been  for  the  most  part  a  stricter  application  of 
the  theory  of  separation  of  the  legislative  and  executive 
powers,  with  the  concentration  of  the  latter  in  the  hands  of 
the  chief  executive,  as  in  the  national  administration;    but 


ADMINISTRATIVE   PROBLEMS  13 

in  a  few  cases  the  centralization  of  authority  in  the  hands  of 
the  mayor  has  tended  toward  the  abandonment  of  the  theory 
of  separation. 

There  are  two  factors  in  American  municipal  organization 
which  are  practically  universal,  and  may  therefore  be  taken 
as  the  necessary  bases  for  any  systematic  scheme.  These  are 
a  council  and  a  mayor,  both  elected  directly  by  popular  vote. 
Washington,  D.C.,  is  the  only  city  which  has  been  an  excep- 
tion to  this  rule  for  any  considerable  length  of  time.* 

THE   COUNCIL 

When  we  turn  to  examine  the  structure  and  powers  of 
these  two  common  factors,  we  find  ourselves  at  once  in  the 
midst  of  diversity  and  often  of  confusion.  The  typical  form 
of  the  council  is  that  of  a  single  body  elected  by  wards  or 
districts  for  a  one  or  two  year  term.  Many  of  the  large  cities 
—  six  out  of  the  twelve  with  over  300,000  population  — 
have  a  bicameral  council.  In  many  of  these  the  smaller 
branch  of  the  council  is  elected  from  the  whole  city  instead 
of  by  districts;  the  cities  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Iowa,  and 
some  others  have  a  small  number  of  councilmen  elected  at 
large,  in  addition  to  the  ward  representatives;  and  in  San 
Francisco  and  a  few  other  cities  the  whole  membership  of 
the  council  is  chosen  at  large.  In  most  American  cities 
council  members  now  receive  some  compensation;  but  the 
older  rule  of  gratuitous  service  still  prevails  in  New  England, 
Pennsylvania,  and  is  frequently  found  in  Southern  cities 
and  occasionally  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 

'  Within  recent  years  a  new  plan  of  municipal  organization  has  been 
established  in  Galveston  and  Houston,  Texas;  and  by  legislation  of  1907 
similar  methods  have  been  authorized  in  Kansas  and  Iowa.  These 
place  all  the  powers  of  municipal  government  in  the  hands  of  a  small 
elective  board  or  commission,  which  acts  collectively  as  a  council,  while 
the  several  members  are  the  heads  of  various  city  departments.  This 
experiment  seems  to  promise  a  more  effective  administrative  system; 
but  it  does  not  provide  for  any  adequate  grant  of  important  legislative 
powers  to  local  authorities. 


14  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

Almost  every  one  of  these  elements  of  council  organization 
has  been  the  subject  of  criticism.  It  is  pointed  out  that 
a  single  council  elected  by  wards,  even  if  successful  in  repre- 
senting the  local  interests  of  the  various  districts,  makes  no 
adequate  provision  for  the  general  interest  of  the  whole  city. 
In  addition  the  district  system  offers  other  difficulties  in 
cities,  and  especially  in  large  cities.  The  ward  limits  are 
artificial  and  seldom  represent  any  natural  social  grouping 
of  the  population.  Frequent  changes  of  boundaries  and 
the  constant  changes  of  residence  on  the  part  of  the  people 
hinder  the  development  of  a  common  social  life  within  the 
political  district.  While  even  in  the  face  of  readjustments 
of  boundaries,  population  movements  go  on  so  rapidly  that 
there  is  seldom  even  the  crudest  approximation  to  repre- 
sentation in  proportion  to  population;  and  in  the  largest 
cities  at  least  the  districts  over-represented  are  those  in  the 
control  of  the  worst  elements  in  the  population. 

A  bicameral  council  with  one  house  elected  at  large  might 
seem  to  meet  some  of  these  objections ;  but  in  fact,  as  generally 
established,  it  simply  adds  another  body  chosen  in  a  way 
which  prevents  the  representation  of  different  interests, 
and  thus  weakens  the  deliberative  character  of  the  council. 
In  practical  experience,  too,  it  has  not  been  found  that  the 
bicameral  system  is  in  any  way  necessary,  or  that  it  secures 
any  improvement  in  the  management  of  municipal  affairs. 

In  reference  to  salaries,  it  is  urged  on  the  one  hand  that  no 
payment  induces  aldermen  to  accept  or  to  demand  com- 
pensation for  their  services  in  an  irregular  way,  which  often 
becomes  either  a  system  of  bribery  or  blackmail;  and  on 
the  other  hand  it  is  said  that  any  salary  makes  the  post 
one  for  which  impecunious  politicians  will  enter  into  active 
competition. 

The  plan  of  the  National  Municipal  League  recommends 
the  election  of  a  single  chambered  city  council  on  a  general 
ticket,  although  providing  for  the  possible  retention  of  the 
district  system  in  cities  of  over  25,000.     Does  not  this  go 


ADMINISTRATIVE   PROBLEMS  15 

too  far  in  ignoring  the  idea  of  local  representation?  It  may 
be  admitted  that  the  present  ward  system  is  usually  un- 
satisfactory; but  are  there  not  in  every  city  sectional  divi- 
sions with  tolerably  distinct  municipal  interests  and  some 
elements  of  common  social  life?  Such  divisions  ought  to  be 
recognized  and  emphasized  in  the  political  system.  They 
should  have  fairly  permanent  boundaries;  and  the  district 
for  electing  council  members  should  be  also  a  district  for 
other  municipal  purposes,  such  as  schools,  police,  fire  brigade, 
and  the  like,  and  indeed  still  further  for  larger  political 
interests,  such  as  the  election  of  members  of  the  state  legis- 
lature. By  thus  concentrating  the  political  interests  of  the 
same  people  in  a  common  district,  the  germ  of  social  unity 
and  local  spirit  could  be  highly  developed.  Such  districts 
would  ordinarily  be  larger  than  city  wards  at  the  present 
time,  and  the  internal  transfers  of  population  within  the 
city  would  be  more  largely  within  the  district,  and  would 
thus  more  often  be  made  without  requiring  any  readjust- 
ment of  political  relations.  Moreover,  as  each  district 
would  have  several  members  in  the  council,  the  exact  number 
could  be  adjusted  at  frequent  intervals  in  proportion  to  the 
changes  in  population,  without  chahging  district  boundaries. 
Besides  such  a  district  system,  the  plan  now  in  use  in 
several  states  of  the  Middle  West,  of  electing  a  small  number 
of  members  of  the  council  at  large  also  seems  desirable.  Such 
members  would  probably  be  more  widely  known  throughout 
the  city,  and  likely  on  this  account  to  be  men  of  large  ability 
and  character,  and  also  likely  to  secure  better  consideration 
for  the  questions  where  local  interests  should  give  way  to 
more  general  views.  It  may  further  be  noted  that  these 
arrangements  are  adapted  to  various  forms  of  minority  and 
proportional  representation;  but  even  without  this  feature 
the  district  members  will  undoubtedly  include  representatives 
of  different  shades  of  political  opinion  on  various  questions 
of  public  policy,  and  the  council  will  thus  continue  to  be 
a  body  adapted  to  deliberation  and  discussion. 


16  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

A  system  of  council  organization  somewhat  similar  to 
that  outlined  was  in  operation  in  New  York  City  from  1873 
to  1882.  And  it  is  perhaps  worthy  of  note  that  during  this 
decade  there  was  less  criticism  of  municipal  government  in 
the  metropolis  than  in  any  other  period  of  equal  length  for 
the  last  fifty  years,  and  that  the  abandonment  of  the  system 
was  due,  not  to  any  public  dissatisfaction,  but  apparently 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  strengthening  the  system  of  party 
machinery  and  increasing  partisan  influences  in  the  municipal 
government. 

An  examination  of  the  powers  of  municipal  councils  in- 
volves two  distinct  —  or  at  least  distinguishable  —  topics : 
the  subject-matter  of  council  activity,  and  the  methods  of 
council  action.  In  both  fields  the  diversity  of  detail  and 
the  difficulty  of  generalization  is  enormous.  It  may,  how- 
ever, be  said,  under  the  first  head,  that  municipal  councils 
generally  have  some  power  in  reference  to  the  protection 
of  persons  and  property  and  the  construction  and  manage- 
ment of  local  works  of  public  improvement,  and  often  they 
have  some  control  over  public  charity;  but  seldom  do  they 
have  much  direct  voice  in  reference  to  public  education. 
In  any  case  the  authority  of  the  council  is  strictly  limited  to 
the  specific  grants  made  by  the  state  legislature.  These 
legislative  grants  are  not  given  in  general  terms,  but  are 
minutely  enumerated,  and  the  courts  have  uniformly  applied 
the  doctrine  of  strict  construction  to  all  such  grants.  In 
consequence,  while  in  the  smaller  cities  the  councils  have 
ordinarily  about  as  much  authority  as  they  wish  to  exercise, 
in  the  larger  cities  where  the  need  and  demand  for  municipal 
action  is  much  greater,  the  councils  are  constantly  appealing 
to  the  legislature  for  larger  powers. 

Methods  of  council  action  may  be  considered  as  legislative 
or , administrative.  In  their  constitution,  municipal  councils 
are  organized  on  similar  principles  to  our  legislatures;  and 
this  idea  has  been  retained  in  the  plan  proposed  in  this  paper. 
And  in  a  vague  sense  the  councils  have  been  considered  as 


ADMINISTRATIVE    PROBLEMS  17 

the  body  in  the  municipal  government  corresponding  to  the 
legislatures  in  the  state  and  national  governments.  But  it 
must  be  said  that  the  law-makers  have  never  thoroughly 
recognized  this.  Indeed,  the  judicial  doctrine  laid  down 
as  a  general  rule,  that  all  legislative  power  not  granted  to 
Congress  is  vested  in  the  state  legislatures  and  may  not  be 
delegated,  is  in  direct  contradiction  to  the  idea  that  the 
councils  are  legislative  bodies.  Nevertheless,  some  state 
constitutions  have  expressly  provided  that  local  legislative 
power  may  be  delegated  to  local  bodies;  while  the  body 
of  statutory  legislation  on  municipal  government  does  in 
fact  give  a  limited  amount  of  legislative  power  to  municipal 
councils. 

Legislative  power  as  exercised  by  Congress  and  the  state 
legislatures  seems  to  consist  of  three  main  elements:  the 
power  to  enact  laws  applying  to  the  community  at  large; 
the  power  to  organize  a  system  of  officials  and  regulate  their 
functions;  and  the  power  to  levy  taxes  and  appropriate 
money  to  maintain  the  administrative  system  thus  organized. 
Municipal  councils  have  the  first  of  these,  to  a  limited  degree, 
in  their  power  to  enact  local  ordinances  and  by-laws  on 
specified  subjects.  But  such  ordinance  power  is  sometimes 
given  to  administrative  authorities  such  as  boards  of  health, 
police  commissioners,  and  park  boards.  They  have  the 
third  class  of  powers  also  to  a  more  or  less  limited  extent. 
But  they  have  in  most  cases  only  a  most  restricted  authority 
in  reference  to  powers  of  the  second  class. 

As  to  the  power  over  administrative  organization,  munici- 
pal charters  usually  provide  so  completely  for  all  the  officials 
of  any  importance  that  the  municipal  councils  find  little 
scope  for  further  action  except  in  the  creation  of  minor 
positions  such  as  milk  inspectors  or  sealers  of  weights  and 
measures;  and  in  many  of  the  larger  cities  this  power  of 
establishing  minor  offices  is  vested  not  in  the  council,  but  in 
an  authority  supposed  to  be  administrative,  —  while  in  the 
new  Ohio  code  such  power  has  been  given  to  the  boards  of 


18  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

public  service  in  every  city  in  that  state.  In  this  respect 
city  charters  have  carried  to  an  absurd  extreme  a  feature 
of  our  state  constitutions  where  these  have  departed  from 
the  altogether  excellent  rule  followed  in  the  national 
constitution. 

One  state  stands  out  as  a  notable  exception  to  this  rule. 
The  municipal  corporation  act  of  Illinois,  after  providing 
for  a  comparatively  small  number  of  officials  in  every  city, 
authorizes  the  municipal  council  by  a  two-thirds  vote  to 
establish  such  other  offices  as  it  deems  necessary,  and  to 
discontinue  any  of  these  offices  by  a  like  vote  at  the  end  of 
a  fiscal  year.  Thus  in  the  city  of  Chicago  such  important 
offices  as  those  of  comptroller  and  commissioner  of  public 
works  have  been  established  by  council  ordinance. 

In  the  exercise  of  such  legislative  powers  as  they  have, 
municipal  councils  are  generally  restricted  by  the  veto  power 
of  the  mayor,  in  the  same  way  as  Congress  and  most  of  the 
state  legislatures  are  restricted  by  the  veto  power  of  the 
President  and  governors. 

In  most  of  the  smaller  cities,  and  in  New  England  and 
Pennsylvania  even  in  cities  of  considerable  size,  municipal 
councils  still  retain  and  exercise  many  administrative  powers. 
To  some  extent  these  powers  are  exercised  by  the  council  as 
a  whole,  by  the  issuance  of  specific  orders  to  agents  and 
employees,  and  by  the  appointment  of  officials  and  their 
subordinates.  In  other  respects,  such  powers  are  exercised 
immediately  by  council  committees,  who  have  direct  super- 
vision over  the  municipal  employees.  Even  in  many  larger 
cities  where  these  powers  are  no  longer  in  the  hands  of  the 
councils,  appointments  to  office  are  effective  only  after  being 
confirmed  by  them,  this  control  over  appointments  being 
sometimes  used  to  secure  some  patronage  for  the  individual 
members.  In  Chicago  and  many  of  the  large  cities,  as  well 
as  the  smaller  ones,  the  council  through  its  Finance  Com- 
mittee is  the  controlling  factor  in  initiating  proposals  for 
expenditure  as  well  as  in  passing  the  appropriations;   but  in 


ADMINISTRATIVE   PROBLEMS  19 

the  larger  cities  of  New  York  State  and  some  other  cities 
the  budget  is  prepared  by  a  small  administrative  board, 
and  the  council  is  not  permitted  to  appropriate  more  than 
the  sums  provided  in  the  budget. 

Under  the  program  of  the  National  Municipal  League, 
the  legislative  powers  of  city  councils  would  be  vastly  in- 
creased. The  ordinance  power  is  to  include  general  authority 
in  reference  to  the  "good  government,  order  and  security 
of  the  city  and  its  inhabitants."  Broad  grants  of  power 
to  deal  with  public  works,  institutions  and  certain  com- 
mercial undertakings  are  given ;  and  these  are  made  effective 
by  a  comprehensive  grant  of  taxing  power.  The  council  is 
made  the  general  legislative  authority  in  all  matters,  subject, 
however,  to  the  veto  power  of  the  mayor;  and  with  detailed 
restrictions  in  reference  to  granting  away  rights  and  fran- 
chises in  the  public  streets.  The  council,  too,  is  to  have 
almost  complete  power  in  organizing  the  administrative 
departments.  On  the  other  hand,  the  council  cannot  ap- 
point to  any  office,  except  that  of  comptroller;  and  it  seems 
to  be  intended  that  the  council  shall  have  no  powers  of  direct 
administration. 

Several  recent  municipal  charters  have  provisions  along 
the  line  of  those  recommendations.  The  general  law  for  the 
four  cities  of  the  second  class  in  New  York  State  vests  the 
legislative  power  and  only  the  legislative  power  in  the  city 
councils.  A  more  emphatic  statement  is  placed  in  the  new 
charter  of  Portland,  Ore.;  and  another  in  the  latest  (1900) 
charter  of  the  city  of  New  York.  But  it  would  seem  that 
these  clauses  refer  only  to  the  ordinance  power;  and  the 
equally  important  power  of  organizing  administrative  offices 
has  apparently  been  effectively  granted  only  in  the  law  of 
Illinois  previously  mentioned.^ 

*  In  Michigan  where  the  state  constitution  specifically  authorizes 
the  legislature  to  confer  local  legislative  power  on  city  councils,  the 
Supreme  Court  has  held  that  this  applies  only  to  the  power  of  passing 
general  ordinances,  and  that  the  legislature  may  not  delegate  to  city 
councils  the  power  of  organizing  administrative  departments. 


20  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

It  is  not  entirely  clear  that  all  municipal  councils  should 
be  restrained  from  exercising  any  administrative  functions. 
In  small  cities,  where  the  amount  of  municipal  work  is  limited, 
there  is  no  absolute  necessity  for  separating  legislative  and 
administrative  functions,  and  council  committees  may  well 
discharge  the  latter  duties  and  save  the  expense  of  additional 
oflficials.  In  large  cities  the  distinction  is  much  more  im- 
portant; the  increased  volume  of  business  makes  a  greater 
demand  on  the  time  of  aldermen  than  can  safely  be  ex- 
pected from  the  kind  of  men  who  ought  to  be  members  of 
the  councils;  and  better  administrative  management  can 
be  secured  by  specializing  that  work  in  the  hands  of  experts 
in  the  different  fields  who  can  be  paid  to  give  their  whole 
time  to  the  municipal  service. 

"With a  careful  separation  of  powers,  the  legislative  func- 
tion can  be  intrusted  to  typical  everyday  Americans  from 
middle  life  who  yet  have  broad  enough  training  to  enable 
them  to  see  the  interests  of  the  city  as  a  whole.  In  most 
cities  strictly  legislative  duties  would  not  seriously  interfere 
with  a  man's  regular  business,  and  therefore  the  council- 
men  need  not  either  be  rich  or  receive  high  salaries  from 
the  city." ' 

THE   MAYOR 

The  mayor  has  the  longest  pedigree  of  any  of  our  American 
public  officers.  As  far  back  as  the  sixth  century  we  hear  of 
the  mayors  of  the  palace  in  the  Frankish  kingdoms,  the  last 
of  whom,  Karl  Martel,  was  grandfather  to  the  Emperor 
Charlemagne.  A  few  centuries  later  the  name  appears  again 
both  in  France  and  England  as  the  chief  officer  of  a  city,  and 
in  that  capacity  it  has  come  down  to  our  own  time.  Ameri- 
can mayors  occupy  an  intermediate  position  between  the 
purely  honorary  and  social  dignity  of  the  English  office  and 
the  professional  public  administrator  of  Germany,  with  a 
tendency  in  recent  years  to  confer  on  the  officer  legal  powers 

*  Wilcox,  The  American  City,  p.  306. 


ADMINISTRATIVE   PROBLEMS  21 

in  some  respects  analogous  to  those  of  a  mayor  in  France. 
In  this  country  the  office  is  filled  by  direct  popular  vote,  for 
terms  varying  from  one  to  four  years.  The  one  year  term 
is  too  short ;  it  should  be  at  least  two.  In  most  cities  of  over 
25,000  population,  and  in  many  smaller  cities,  the  incum- 
bent receives  a  salary,  —  in  cities  with  over  100,000  popu- 
lation, usually  from  $2000  to  $5000  a  year,  and  in  five  cities 
from  $10,000  to  $15,000.* 

Although  generally  considered  as  primarily  an  executive 
officer,  the  mayor  has  always  had  important  duties  in  relation 
to  the  council  and  legislative  matters.  In  small  cities,  he 
is  in  most  cases  the  presiding  officer  of  the  council;  and  has 
this  position  even  in  such  important  cities  as  Chicago,  Provi- 
dence, and  Grand  Rapids.  In  the  last  named  he  also  ap- 
points the  committees  of  the  council.  But  in  most  of  the 
larger  cities  this  connection  of  the  mayor  with  the  council 
has  ceased.  On  the  other  hand,  in  all  the  larger  cities  and 
many  small  cities,  he  has  a  limited  veto  over  the  acts  of  the 
council,  which  in  many  cases  includes  the  power  to  disap- 
prove items  in  appropriation  bills,  sometimes  includes  the 
power  to  disapprove  separate  provisions  of  any  ordinance, 
and  in  a  few  cities  is  made  more  effective  than  the  veto  power 
of  the  President  and  state  governors  by  requiring  a  larger 
vote  than  the  traditional  two-thirds  to  override  his  disap- 
proval. In  the  cities  of  New  York  State,  the  mayors  have 
an  additional  legislative  power  to  disapprove  special  acts  of 
the  state  legislature  applying  to  their  cities,  this  disapproval 
operating  as  a  veto  unless  the  legislature  repasses  the  bill. 

In  respect  to  administrative  powers,  the  principles  of 
executive  authority  employed  in  the  national  government 
have  been  but  slowly  and  gradually  applied  to  city  mayors. 
In  many  small  cities,  and  in  some  of  considerable  size  (the 
latter  mostly  in  New  England  and  Ohio)  the  mayor  has  even 
yet  little  or  no  appointing  power  and  no  effective  means  of 

*  Racine,  Wis.,  seems  to  be  the  largest  city  where  no  salary  is 
paid. 


22  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

controlling  the  other  officials;  and  has  thus  still  less  relative 
authority  than  most  of  the  state  governors.  In  other  cities, 
including  most  of  the  larger  places,  he  now  generally  has 
powers  analogous  to  those  of  a  state  governor:  the  right  to 
nominate  to  the  council  for  the  principal  positions  not  filled 
by  popular  election,  and  some  power  of  removing  officials 
for  cause.  In  lUinois  cities,  the  scope  of  this  hmited  power 
over  appointments  may  be  greatly  enlarged  as  the  council 
creates  new  offices;  and  in  the  same  state  the  mayor  has 
also  a  large  power  of  removal  which  gives  him  effective 
means  of  control  over  the  other  officials  and  strengthens 
his  influence  in  appointments.  In  Chicago  the  mayor's 
power  of  nomination  extends  to  most  of  the  important 
positions,  and  in  practice  has  been  equivalent  to  the  absolute 
power  of  appointment.  In  Cleveland  for  twelve  years 
(1891-1903)  the  mayor  had  a  very  extended  power  of  nomina- 
tion, which  in  practice  operated  to  give  him  complete  control 
over  most  of  the  important  positions. 

During  the  last  ten  years,  in  a  number  of  important  cities, 
the  mayor's  power  of  appointment  and  removal  has  been 
still  further  increased.  The  mayors  of  the  six  largest  cities 
in  New  York  State,  of  Boston,  of  all  cities  in  Indiana,  and 
of  a  few  other  cities  have  now  the  sole  and  absolute  power 
of  appointing  the  heads  of  most  of  the  municipal  departments ; 
and  in  the  same  cities,  with  the  addition  of  the  four  largest 
cities  in  Pennsylvania,  mayors  have  the  power  of  removing 
at  any  time  the  appointed  heads  of  departments.  Under 
this  system  the  executive  authority  and  responsibility  is 
concentrated  in  the  mayor,  except  for  a  few  officials  still 
elected  by  popular  vote. 

In  the  program  of  the  National  Municipal  League,  this 
latest  development  of  the  mayor's  authority  is  adopted,  and 
indeed  strengthened  by  making  the  mayor  the  only  elective 
executive  officer,  and  extending  his  power  of  appointment 
and  removal  to  all  administrative  officers  except  the  comp- 
troller.   At  the  same  time  the  mayor's  limited  veto  power 


ADMINISTRATIVE  PROBLEMS  23 

over  council  ordinances  is  retained ;  and  he  is  also  to  prepare 
and  submit  the  annual  budget. 

This  concentration  of  executive  authority  in  the  hands  of 
the  mayor  has  been  criticised,  as  enabling  that  official  to  use 
his  power  to  build  up  a  "political  machine."  This  was 
the  main  argument  of  those  who  planned  the  recent  Ohio 
municipal  code,  which  relegates  the  mayor  to  a  position  of 
"innocuous  desuetude,"  yet  the  system  there  established 
was  that  which  has  enabled  one  of  the  most  notorious  "ma- 
chines" in  the  country  to  be  maintained  in  the  city  of  Cin- 
cinnati Every  system  of  appointment  or  election  can  be 
abused  in  this  way,  so  long  as  positions  in  the  municipal 
service  are  given  as  rewards  for  campaign  work.  The  com- 
plete plan  of  the  National  Municipal  League  will  restrict 
the  possibility  of  this  abuse  to  small  limits  by  the  merit  system 
in  filling  all  subordinate  positions;  and  it  is  felt  that  the 
importance  of  the  principal  offices,  and  the  responsibility 
of  the  mayor's  power  will  in  most  cases  secure  the  appoint- 
ment of  competent  heads  of  departments. 

One  writer  in  a  recent  article  advocates  a  still  further 
development  of  executive  authority.^  He  holds  that  the 
organic  defect  in  municipal  organization  "lies  in  the  fact 
that  the  executive  and  legislative  departments,  in  addition 
to  being  separately  constituted,  are  also  disconnected,  and 
this  very  disconnection  has  prevented  in  practice  the  degree 
of  separation  in  their  functions  which  their  integrity  requires." 
His  remedy  is  to  give  the  executive  complete  legislative 
initiative,  with  the  right  to  demand  a  vote  on  proposed 
measures. 

ADMINISTRATIVE   DEPARTMENTS 

Our  discussion  of  the  officials  who  deal  with  particular 
branches  of  municipal  administration  must  be  very  brief. 
Any  description  of  existing  arrangements  is  out  of  the  ques- 

*  H.  J.  Ford,  in  Annals  of  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social 
Science,  March,  1904. 


24  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

tion,  for  the  situation  may  well  be  described  as  chaotic: 
a  chaos  in  regard  to  the  forms  of  organization,  the  terms  of 
service,  the  methods  of  election  or  appointment,  and  the 
relations  of  the  various  officials  to  the  council,  to  the  mayor, 
and  to  each  other.  A  large  element  of  variety  in  some  of 
these  respects  is  almost  inevitable:  the  number  of  officials 
and  separate  departments  must  vary  with  the  size  of  the 
city  and  the  scope  of  municipal  functions;  and  the  extent 
to  which  unsalaried  service  can  be  advantageously  secured 
can  hardly  be  fixed  by  a  hard  and  fast  rule.  But  the  existing 
confusion  goes  far  beyond  what  is  either  nesessary  or  ex- 
cusable, and  is  the  cause  of  constant  friction  and  dissatis- 
faction in  municipal  operations. 

Something  may  be  said  about  conditions  in  those  cities 
where  a  more  orderly  system  has  been  introduced.  Most 
of  the  cities  where  the  mayor's  power  has  been  increased, 
place  single  salaried  commissioners  at  the  head  of  the  various 
departments,  and  some  other  large  cities,  e.g.,  Detroit,  have 
also  partially  introduced  this  same  feature  But  in  every 
case  some  branches  of  administration  remain  under  the 
supervision  of  boards,  and  there  is  no  fixed  rule  as  to  which 
departments  are  under  boards  and  which  under  single  com- 
missioners. 

In  most  cities  the  various  municipal  bureaus  form  a  hetero- 
geneous list,  frequently  numbering  from  twenty  to  thirty  or 
more,  with  no  official  connection  even  between  those  whose 
duties  are  most  closely  related.  But  a  number  of  cities 
have  made  progress  in  grouping  related  offices  into  impor- 
tant departments.  Thus  in  St.  Louis  the  heads  of  the  various 
public  works  bureaus,  including  the  parks,  streets,  sewers, 
and  water  bureaus,  are  brought  together  in  the  board  of 
public  improvements;  and  in  the  larger  cities  of  New  York 
and  Pennsylvania  the  public  works  department  has  been 
made  to  include  most  of  the  bureaus  of  this  kind.  In  Ohio 
cities,  under  the  new  code,  the  department  of  pubhc  service 
embraces  not  only  the  management  of  all  the  municipal 


ADMINISTRATIVE   PROBLEMS  25 

engineering  works,  but  also  the  charitable  and  correctional 
institutions,  going  too  far  in  combining  unrelated  offices. 
Another  development  has  been  in  establishing  departments 
of  public  safety,  bringing  together  the  police  and  fire  brigades 
and  usually  also  the  offices  for  sanitary  and  building  inspec- 
tion. This  department  is  now  to  be  found  in  some  of  the 
larger  cities  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Indiana,  in  all 
the  Ohio  cities,  and  occasionally  in  other  places. 

Most  advance  in  this  direction  is  to  be  found  in  the  four 
cities  of  the  second  class  in  New  York  State.  Here  practically 
all  the  municipal  service  is  organized  in  seven  main  depart- 
ments. This  plan  seems  to  have  been  taken,  with  some 
modifications,  from  the  so-called  "federal  plan"  of  Cleveland 
(1891-1903);  and  another  feature  of  that  plan  is  authorized 
in  the  New  York  cities;  viz,  the  periodic  meetings  of  the 
heads  of  departments  with  the  mayor,  as  a  cabinet  for  the 
discussion  of  questions  of  common  interest  to  secure  agree- 
ment on  harmonious  lines.  In  Cleveland  the  "cabinet" 
was  constituted  as  a  board  of  control  with  important  legal 
powers ;  but  in  the  New  York  cities  it  has  been  left  to  develop 
its  own  place  in  the  municipal  system. 

In  the  new  municipal  code  of  Indiana  (1905)  from  five  to 
eight  departments  are  established  in  cities  of  over  10,000 
population,  and  provision  is  made  for  monthly  meetings  of 
the  mayor  and  the  heads  of  departments.  This  "cabinet" 
is  authorized  to  adopt  rules  and  regulations  for  the  administra- 
tion of  the  departments,  including  rules  governing  admission 
to  the  subordinate  municipal  service. 

The  plan  of  the  National  Municipal  League  does  not  provide 
in  detail  for  the  administrative  departments;  but  leaves 
these  to  be  organized  by  the  council  or  by  the  special  locally 
framed  charters  according  to  the  needs  of  the  city.  But 
there  is  certainly  need  in  most  cities  for  more  careful  attention 
to  this  problem  of  departmental  organization ;  and  the  larger 
cities  of  the  country  will  find  the  plans  that  have  been  men- 
tioned well  worth  their  attention. 


26  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

Subordinate  positions  in  the  municipal  service  in  most 
cities  are  filled  and  held  at  the  pleasure  of  the  changing  heads 
of  departments  and  bureaus.  And  one  of  the  most  serious 
abuses  in  municipal  administration  has  been  the  frequent 
changes  in  such  positions  for  partisan  and  political  purposes. 
In  the  cities  of  Massachusetts  and  New  York,  and  in  Phila- 
delphia, Chicago,  and  New  Orleans  the  system  of  open  com- 
petitive examinations  has  been  established.  And  in  some 
other  cities  the  police  and  fire  departments  are  recruited 
under  a  merit  system.  There  can  be  no  question  that  the 
principles  of  civil  service  reform  should  be  thoroughly  applied 
to  the  whole  municipal  service.^ 

THE  CITY  AND  THE   STATE 

Of  equal  importance  with  the  problems  of  local  organization 
are  the  problems  of  the  relations  between  the  city  and  the 
state.  For  in  the  United  States,  as  in  all  other  countries, 
cities  are  not  independent  political  communities,  but  districts 
in  a  larger  political  area  and  subordinate  in  various  ways  to 
the  higher  governmental  authorities.  In  the  United  States 
this  subordination  is  to  the  government  of  the  states.  There 
are  many  evidences  that  the  prevailing  relations  between 
the  city  and  state  authorities  are  unsatisfactory,  and  the 
remedy  most  widely  suggested  is  a  demand,  usually  vague 
and  inarticulate,  for  municipal  "home  rule."  Some  atten- 
tion may  therefore  be  given  to  explaining  the  present  arrange- 
ments and  to  presenting  a  definite  plan  for  a  better  system. 

At  the  outset  it  may  be  noted  that  in  our  fundamental 
political  document,  the  national  constitution,  cities  are  in 
no  way  recognized  as  having  any  existence;  and  that  under 
the  principle  of  residual  powers,  cities  are  created  by  the 
states,  which  have  complete  power  of  control  over  them, 
and  may  even  destroy  their  political  existence.'  But  the 
powers  of  the  states  are  for  the  most  part  exercised  by  the 

*  Cf.  Essay  III. 

2  U.  S.  V.  B.  &  O.  R.  R.  Co.,  17  WaU.  322  (1872). 


ADMINISTRATIVE   PROBLEMS  27 

state  governments;  and  these  are  established  and  limited 
by  the  state  constitutions.  The  more  practical  question  is 
therefore  as  to  the  relations  of  the  cities  to  the  state  legislatures, 
the  state  executive  and  administrative  authorities,  and  the 
judiciary. 

LEGISLATIVE   CONTROL 

In  the  absence  of  specific  limitations  in  the  state  con- 
stitutions, the  power  of  the  legislature  in  most  states  is  held 
by  the  courts  to  be  practically  coextensive  with  the  power 
of  the  states.  A  municipal  corporation  has  only  such  powers 
as  are  expressly  enumerated  or  clearly  implied  in  its  charter 
or  the  general  laws;  and  the  legislature  "may,  where  there 
is  no  constitutional  inhibition,  erect,  change,  divide,  and 
even  abolish  them  at  pleasure,  as  it  deems  the  public  good  to 
require."  ^ 

In  Michigan,  however,  and  to  a  less  extent  in  Indiana 
this  doctrine  has  been  somewhat  modified;  and  the  courts 
have  held  that  the  legislature  may  not  vest  distinctively  local 
powers,  such  as  management  of  public  works,  in  state  officers, 
and  may  not  compel  a  city  to  undertake  local  improvements 
without  its  consent.  More  generally,  too,  it  has  been  held 
that  the  constitutional  guarantees  for  the  protection  of  pri- 
vate property  prevent  the  legislature  from  confiscating  the 
private  property  of  a  city.  But  with  these  exceptions, 
restrictions  on  the  power  of  the  legislature  must  be  based  on 
specific  constitutional  provisions. 

State  legislatures,  in  the  exercise  of  this  power  over  cities, 
have  generally  granted  the  authority  to  elect  local  officials; 
but  have  regulated  in  minute  details  the  organization  of  the 
municipal  government  and  the  powers  and  functions  of 
the  municipal  officials.  In  earlier  days,  and  even  at  the 
present  time  for  most  small  cities,  statutes  on  municipal 
government  have  usually  been  enacted  only  on  local  initiative 
and  generally   at  the  request  of  local  members  of  the  legis- 

*  Dillon,  Municipal  Corporations,  I,  93. 


28  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

lature  without  consideration  by  the  whole  legislature  or 
any  public  notice.  As  a  result,  there  has  accumulated  a  great 
mass  of  special  legislation  in  most  of  the  states,  overloading 
the  statutes  with  heterogeneous  and  conflicting  provisions, 
which  make  almost  impossible  an  intelligent  understanding 
of  municipal  government  and  dissipate  and  confuse  responsi- 
bility for  local  affairs. 

In  most  of  the  states  containing  large  cities,  legislation 
for  their  government  has  been  affected  by  other  considera- 
tions. Charters  and  charter  amendments  are  passed  not 
only  without  public  and  local  discussion,  but  also,  in  many 
cases,  against  the  wishes  of  the  local  officials  and  local  mem- 
bers of  the  legislature.  Sometimes  such  legislation  has  had, 
ostensibly  at  least,  the  immediate  object  of  remedying  some 
municipal  delinquency;  but  in  many  cases  the  most  effective 
motive  has  been  to  secure  some  partisan  advantage  for  those 
in  control  of  the  state  government,  when  the  city  officers 
belong  to  another  political  organization;  while  in  some  in- 
stances such  legislation  has  been  enacted  through  the  worst 
sort  of  political  jobbery,  to  confer  privileges  which  could 
not  be  secured  from  the  local  authorities.  By  such  means 
acts  have  been  passed  substituting  state  appointed  officials 
for  local  officers,  compelling  cities  to  carry  out  expensive 
and  unnecessary  undertakings,  and  granting  franchises  in 
the  public  streets  with  little  or  no  compensation  to  the  city. 
The  legislatures  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and 
Missouri  have  been  most  active  in  these  methods  of  inter- 
ference; but  instances  are  not  lacking  in  Massachusetts, 
Illinois,  Michigan,  and  other  states. 

It  is  over  fifty  years  since  the  attempt  was  begun  to  remedy 
the  evils  of  special  municipal  legislation  by  constitutional 
provisions  prohibiting  such  legislation.  The  second  con- 
stitution of  Ohio,  adopted  in  1851,  contained  several  clauses 
intended  to  abolish  special  legislation  on  municipal  govern- 
ment; other  states  followed  this  example,  at  first  slowly, 
but  more  rapidly  since  1870;   and  at  the  present  time  about 


ADMINISTRATIVE   PROBLEMS  29 

half  of  the  states  forbid  the  legislature  to  enact  special  muni- 
cipal legislation.  These  provisions  have,  however,  had  only 
a  partial  success.  The  method  of  detailed  legislation  enumer- 
ating municipal  officers  and  powers  was  so  firmly  established, 
that  when  it  proved  difficult  to  pass  laws  of  that  nature  apply- 
ing to  cities  of  all  sizes,  the  lawmakers,  instead  of  changing 
their  method  of  legislation,  devised  methods  of  evading  the 
constitutional  provisions.  The  most  successful  method  was 
the  device  of  classifying  cities;  as  the  courts  accepted  a 
statute  applying  to  a  class  of  cities  as  a  general  law,  even 
if  there  were  only  a  single  city  in  a  class.  The  smaller  cities 
were  then  grouped  into  one  class,  and  a  general  law  applied 
to  them;  but  each  of  the  larger  cities  was  usually  placed  in 
a  class  by  itself;  and  the  regime  of  special  legislation  with 
its  evils  of  confusion,  partisanship,  and  corruption  continued, 
and  indeed  became  worse  than  ever  with  the  development 
of  cities  in  size  and  population. 

In  Illinois  an  effective  general  municipal  law  was  enacted 
in  1872,  which  by  granting  large  powers  to  all  cities  has  been 
successful  in  limiting  special  legislation  in  that  state.  But 
even  there  some  special  legislation  has  been  enacted,  mainly 
because  the  financial  powers  granted  in  the  general  law  are 
not  adequate  to  the  needs  of  the  city  of  Chicago.  In  Ohio, 
too,  after  fifty  years  of  classified  legislation,  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  state  felt  compelled  in  1902  to  reverse  its  previous 
rulings  and  to  declare  that  statutes  for  a  class  of  cities  which 
in  fact  applied  only  to  a  single  city  were  contrary  to  the  state 
constitution.  The  result  was  the  enactment  of  a  new  muni- 
cipal code  applying  to  all  the  cities  of  that  state,  which, 
however,  still  goes  so  much  into  detail  that  it  burdens  the 
smaller  cities  with  a  too  cumbersome  machinery.  The  new 
municipal  code  of  Indiana  reduces  the  number  of  classes  of 
cities  in  that  state  to  five.  And  Virginia  has  a  general  muni- 
cipal law,  supplemented,  however,  by  some  special  legislation. 
In  some  other  states  the  smaller  cities  are  organized  under 
a  general  law. 


30  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

New  York  State  in  1894  adopted  another  method,  in  the 
attempt  to  reduce  the  evils  of  legislative  interference  in 
municipal  affairs.  The  revised  constitution  of  that  year 
itself  establishes  three  classes  of  cities,  and  provides  that  any 
bill  applying  to  less  than  all  the  cities  in  one  of  these  classes 
must  be  submitted  to  the  city  concerned,  and  if  disapproved 
by  the  mayor  or  the  mayor  and  council  must  be  repassed  by 
the  legislature  and  signed  by  the  governor  before  it  can  be- 
come a  law.  These  provisions  have  secured  a  greater  amount 
of  publicity  to  special  legislation  and  have  prevented  the 
enactment  of  some  bills  rushed  through  the  legislature  with- 
out careful  consideration.  In  the  case  of  bills  passed  toward 
the  end  of  the  session,  the  mayor's  disapproval  is  also  effective 
until  the  next  session  of  the  legislature.  But  in  many  cases 
the  mayor's  disapproval  has  served  only  to  delay  the  enact- 
ment; and  partisan  or  corrupt  influences  have  secured  the 
passage  of  measures  over  the  local  disapproval. 

At  the  session  of  the  Michigan  legislature  in  1903  a  method 
of  procedure  was  adopted  in  reference  to  bills  affecting  the 
city  of  Detroit,  which  secured  the  same  advantage  of  publicity. 
At  the  request  of  the  Common  Council  of  Detroit,  no  Detroit 
bill  was  placed  on  its  third  reading,  until  after  a  public  hear- 
ing on  the  measure  in  the  city.  Such  hearings  were  held 
regularly  on  Saturday  mornings  during  the  session,  being 
attended  by  the  local  members  of  the  legislature,  a  com- 
mittee of  the  council,  the  newspaper  reporters,  and  any  one 
interested  in  particular  bills.  This  procedure  could  be 
established  in  every  state,  and  it  ought  not  to  be  a  difficult 
matter  to  secure  it.  During  the  year  it  was  in  operation  in 
Michigan,  it  prevented  the  enactment  of  all  measures  to 
which  there  was  strong  local  opposition.  It  has  proved, 
however,  inadequate  as  a  means  of  securing  needed  legislation, 
6wing  to  the  difficulty  of  harmonizing  the  different  factors. 

Another  method  which  prevents  some  of  the  abuses  of 
legislative  interference  is  found  in  the  constitutions  of  New 
York  and  Kentucky,  which  provide  that  all  local  officers 


ADMINISTRATIVE   PROBLEMS  31 

must  be  locally  elected.  Even  this,  however,  has  been  evaded 
by  creating  special  districts  with  appointive  officers  for  the 
conduct  of  functions  usually  municipal,  or  by  transferring 
such  functions  and  officers  from  the  city  to  the  county. 

Still  another  method  found  in  several  of  the  states  west  of 
the  Mississippi  River,  is  that  of  allowing  cities  to  frame  their 
own  charters  through  a  local  convention  analogous  to  a  state 
constitutional  convention.  A  constitutional  provision  author- 
izing this  was  first  adopted  in  Missouri  in  1875  for  cities  of 
over  100,000  population,  and  this  was  early  applied  in  the 
city  of  St.  Louis  and  later  in  Kansas  City.  In  1879  California 
adopted  a  similar  constitutional  provision  to  that  of  Missouri, 
which  now  applies  to  any  city  of  over  3500  population;  and 
sixteen  cities  in  that  state  are  operating  under  charters  framed 
in  this  way.  The  same  plan  was  adopted  in  the  constitution 
of  Washington  in  1889  for  cities  of  over  20,000  population, 
in  Minnesota  by  constitutional  amendment  in  1898;  and  in 
Colorado  in  1902  for  every  city  of  over  2000  population.  A 
similar  procedure  was  followed  by  the  legislature  of  Oregon 
for  the  city  of  Portland  in  1901,  and  a  constitutional  amend- 
ment authorizing  all  cities  in  that  state  to  enact  and  amend 
their  municipal  charters  was  adopted  in  1906.  The  same 
plan  is  adopted  in  the  program  of  the  National  Municipal 
League  for  cities  of  over  25,000  population. 

This  system  of  "home-rule"  charters  secures  to  the  cities 
a  large  element  of  freedom  from  legislative  interference.  But 
the  experience  of  St.  Louis,  where  police,  excise,  and  election 
administration  has  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  state  appointed 
officials,  on  the  ground  that  these  are  state  and  not  municipal 
interests,  shows  that  it  may  not  altogether  abolish  it.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  these  matters  are  also  excluded  from  legis- 
lative action,  there  is  a  serious  danger  that  municipal  auton- 
omy may  be  carried  so  far  as  to  impair  the  sovereignty  of 
the  state,  as  has  been  urged  by  Governor  Gage,  of  California. 
It  should  also  be  noted  that  this  system  tends  to  increase  the 
confusion  and  complexity  of  the  law  on  municipal  govern- 


32  ESSAYS    IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

ment.  In  practice,  too,  there  has  sometimes  been  a  long 
delay  in  securing  the  adoption  of  a  charter  under  this  process. 
The  first  charter  submitted  for  Denver  was  rejected,  and  a 
second  was  framed  and  adopted  with  too  little  consideration. 
In  Minneapolis,  four  proposed  charters  have  failed  of  rati- 
fication, and  the  old  discredited  system  continues  in  opera- 
tion. 

These  considerations,  and  the  frequent  misrule  and  corrup- 
tion in  municipal  government,  make  clear  that  the  complete 
independence  of  the  city  from  the  state  is  not  a  satisfac- 
tory remedy  for  legislative  interference.  And  while  restric- 
tions on  special  legislation  and  local  charter  conventions  for 
the  larger  cities  are  steps  in  the  right  direction,  the  limitation 
on  legislative  control  which  they  involve  must  be  supplemented 
by  the  fuller  development  of  other  methods  of  control,  which 
will  be  free  from  the  evils  that  have  accompanied  the  excessive 
dependence  on  the  legislature.  What  these  methods  should 
be  may  be  suggested  by  an  examination  of  other  forms  of 
control  already  in  existence. 

JUDICIAL  CONTROL 

To  a  considerable  extent  municipal  officials  are  subject 
to  the  control  of  the  judicial  authorities.  Suits  may  be 
brought  against  municipal  corporations  to  enforce  contract 
rights,  and  to  some  extent  for  damages  due  to  negligence  on 
the  part  of  the  agents  of  the  municipality.  Suits  for  damages 
may  also  be  brought  against  municipal  officials  for  acts  per- 
formed without  warrant  of  law.  Municipal  officials  are  also 
subject  to  criminal  prosecution,  not  only  for  purely  private 
acts,  but  also  for  misconduct  in  connection  with  their  official 
duties.  In  addition  to  these  judicial  remedies  to  redress 
wrongful  acts,  the  courts  also  exercise  some  preventive  control 
over  the  acts  of  officials  through  the  issue  of  writs  of  man- 
damus, injunction,  certiorari,  habeas  corpus,  quo  warranto, 
and  the  like  by  which  they  enforce  statutory  provisions 
governing  the  powers  and  duties  of  these  officials. 


ADMINISTRATIVE   PROBLEMS  33 

There  is  little  or  no  opposition  to  this  judicial  control,  and 
almost  the  only  criticism  made  of  it  is  that  it  is  not  always 
adequate  to  meet  the  situation.  Criminal  prosecutions  de- 
pend for  their  success  on  the  action  of  local  prosecuting 
officers,  local  juries,  and  local  judges,  who  may  have  close 
poHtical  relations  with  the  officials  under  trial;  but  recent 
events  in  different  parts  of  the  country  speak  well  for  the 
working  of  the  local  machinery  of  criminal  justice.  Other 
difficulties  arise  from  the  precautions  of  our  judicial  system 
in  favor  of  persons  accused  of  crime,  which  add  to  the  diffi- 
culties of  conviction,  and  often  secure  acquittal  or  a  new 
trial  on  a  technical  appeal  to  a  higher  court.  And  in  the 
exercise  of  control  through  special  writs,  judges  are  extremely 
careful  not  to  interfere  with  the  discretionary  powers  of  admin- 
istrative officials,  even  when  these  may  have  been  clearly 
abused.  Evidently  there  is  need  for  some  further  develop- 
ment of  state  control.  Something  may  perhaps  be  done  in 
strengthening  the  judicial  powers  in  this  direction;  but  some- 
thing of  a  different  nature  must  be  devised  to  exercise  the 
supervision  heretofore  so  badly  attempted  through  the 
detailed  legislative  control,  whose  abandonment  has  been 
urged. 

ADMINISTRATIVE   CONTROL 

It  remains  to  examine  the  supervision  exercised  by  executive 
and  administrative  officers  of  the  central  state  governments. 
Fifty  years  ago  or  less  no  such  supervision  existed  over 
municipal  officials,  nor  was  there  any  effective  administrative 
supervision  even  of  local  officials,  such  as  sheriffs  and  prosecu- 
ting attorneys,  who  were  clearly  and  directly  subordinate 
agents  of  the  state  governments.  In  England  from  the  time  of 
the  Normans  to  the  Tudors  the  important  local  officers  had 
been  both  appointed  by  the  Crown  and  closely  supervised 
in  their  actions  by  the  Privy  Council.  But  the  internal  con- 
flicts of  the  seventeenth  century  resulted  in  breaking  up  the 
machinery  of  administrative  control,  although  the  principal 


34  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

local  officials  continued  to  be  appointed  by  the  central  govern- 
ment. This  system  was  brought  over  to  the  American  col- 
onies; but  here  it  was  completely  decentralized  by  substi- 
tuting local  election  for  central  appointment,  while  the  regime 
of  no  administrative  supervision  was  continued. 

Compared  with  conditions  in  continental  Europe  or  with 
those  in  Great  Britain  at  the  present  time,  or  even  with  our 
own  national  administration,  central  administrative  control 
of  local  officials  in  the  American  states  is  still  very  limited; 
and  this  is  particularly  so  in  the  case  of  municipal  officials. 
Nevertheless,  there  has  been  some  development  in  this  direc- 
tion from  the  conditions  during  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century;  and  an  understanding  of  this  development  and 
the  present  situation  may  serve  to  indicate  some  features 
of  our  future  policy.  In  this  examination  attention  will  be 
given  to  administrative  supervision  not  only  over  municipal 
officials,  but  over  all  local  officials  established  and  authorized 
by  the  states. 

Such  supervision  first  appeared  and  has  been  furthest 
developed  in  connection  with  educational  administration. 
Here  decentralization  was  carried  to  the  extreme  in  the  petty 
school  district ;  but  over  the  local  school  authorities  there  is 
now  in  all  of  the  states  a  superintendent  of  public  instruction, 
a  board  of  education,  or  other  central  authority.  The  powers 
of  those  state  educational  officials  vary  to  some  extent;  but 
in  most  states  they  have  control  over  the  distribution  of  state 
school  funds,  direct  the  county  supervision  of  schools,  exer- 
cise control  over  the  qualifications  and  training  of  teachers, 
and  receive  reports  from  all  local  school  officers.  In  some 
states  their  powers  are  more  extensive,  most  of  all  in  New 
York,  where  the  commissioner  of  education  exercises  super- 
vision over  elementary,  secondary,  and  higher  education; 
while  everywhere  the  state  officials  wield  a  large  advisory 
influence  beyond  their  compulsory  powers. 

Another  field  of  state  administrative  supervision  of  local 
officials  is  that  of  matters  affecting  the  public  health.     Most 


ADMINISTRATIVE   PROBLEMS  35 

of  the  states  have  a  state  board  of  health,  which  act  as  bureaus 
of  information  and  advice  to  local  health  officers;  and  in 
certain  cases  of  delinquency  can  compel  the  local  officers 
to  take  action. 

In  a  similar  way  local  charitable  and  correctional  institu- 
tions are,  in  some  of  the  larger  states,  brought  under  the 
inspection  of  state  boards;  which  exercise  an  important 
advisory  influence  over  both  local  authorities  and  the  legis- 
lature, and  in  some  cases  may  require  the  local  officials  to 
remedy  serious  defects  or  to  introduce  improvements. 

Some  steps  have  also  been  taken  in  establishing  adminis- 
trative supervision  over  local  assessing  officers.  Most  of 
the  states  now  have  state  boards  of  equalization,  which  revise 
the  total  assessed  valuation  of  local  districts,  so  as  to  appor- 
tion the  state  property  tax  more  equitably.  In  a  number 
of  states,  certain  property  formerly  assessed  by  local  officers 
is  now  assessed  by  a  state  authority.  And  in  a  few  states, 
notably  Wisconsin  and  Indiana,  state  tax  commissioners  are 
given  effective  powers  of  supervision  over  local  assessing 
officers  in  assessing  property  even  for  local  taxation. 

A  fairly  uniform  line  of  development  has  been  followed  in 
connection  with  such  state  officials.  When  first  established 
they  are  only  authorized  to  collect  information  and  make 
recommendations.  Then  this  authority  is  made  more  effec- 
tive by  empowering  them  to  require  reports  and  by  enlarging 
their  powers  and  means  of  inspection.  This  is  followed  by 
some  negative  or  preventive  control,  by  the  power  to  establish 
regulations,  and  in  some  cases  by  authority  to  use  compulsory 
processes  or  remove  delinquent  local  officials. 

It  is  generally  recognized  that  the  supervision  of  such 
state  authorities  as  have  been  noted  has  worked  for  the  im- 
provement of  public  administration  in  the  fields  under  their 
control.  Even  where  they  have  only  informational  and 
advisory  functions,  something  has  been  accomplished;  and 
more  has  been  done  where  their  powers  and  means  are  larger. 
They  have  had  two  distinct  advantages  over  the  legislatures 


36  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

and  legislative  committees.  In  the  first  place,  by  specializa- 
tion of  functions  and  longer  service  they  become  to  some 
extent  at  least  experts  in  the  particular  subject;  in  the  second 
place,  partisan  influences  have  been  to  a  large  extent  excluded, 
and  the  control  exercised  has  not  been  abused  for  partisan 
ends. 

Would  not  a  further  development  of  such  administrative 
supervision  in  municipal  matters  be  advisable?  Does  not 
the  existence  of  so  many  associations  of  municipal  officials, 
for  the  purpose  of  collecting  and  comparing  information  about 
their  work,  show  that  in  this  field  as  in  others,  while  "power 
may  be  decentralized,  knowledge  to  be  most  useful  must  be 
centralized"?*  The  collection  and  publication  of  municipal 
information  can  be  more  effectively  done  by  an  official  state 
authority  than  by  purely  voluntary  action;  and  the  recom- 
mendations of  such  a  central  state  bureau,  based  on  adequate 
and  accurate  data,  would  serve  to  solve  many  of  the  diffi- 
culties of  municipal  administration. 

Besides  the  work  of  information  and  advice,  there  are  some 
branches  of  municipal  government  where  fm-ther  state  admin- 
istrative supervision  would  operate  to  the  advantage  both 
of  the  cities  and  of  the  state  as  a  whole.  In  the  field  of  mu- 
nicipal finances  the  task  of  securing  satisfactory  data  can  only 
be  accomplished  on  the  basis  of  scientific  and  uniform  method 
of  keeping  accounts  in  aU  of  the  cities.  In  most  American 
cities  municipal  accounts  and  financial  reports  are  still  unintel- 
ligible to  the  ordinary  citizen;  and  even  where  an  under- 
standable system  is  adopted  in  a  particular  city  it  is  likely 
to  be  of  little  use  in  making  comparisons  with  other  cities 
using  other  systems.  It  is  only  on  the  basis  of  a  uniform 
system  that  accurate  and  comparable  information  can  be 
secured ;  and  this  can  be  secured  only  through  a  general  law 
enforced  by  state  officials.  Some  progress  has  been  made  in 
this  direction  in  a  few  states.  Wyoming  for  a  number  of  years 
has  had  an  examiner  of  public  accounts,  exercising  powers 
*J.  S.  Mill,  Representative  Government. 


ADMINISTRATIVE   PROBLEMS  37 

over  the  financial  accounts  and  reports  of  local  officials  similar 
to  those  in  most  states  exercised  over  the  accounts  of  banking 
and  insurance  companies.  More  recently  Massachusetts  and 
New  York  have  enacted  statutes  providing  for  uniform  finan- 
cial reports  from  cities;  while  within  a  few  years  Ohio  and 
Iowa  have  enacted  effective  laws  for  uniform  municipal 
accounting  under  the  direction  of  the  state  auditor.  Similar 
measures  are  being  discussed  in  other  states;  and  should 
be  encouraged. 

Another  field  where  there  is  special  need  for  state  adminis- 
trative supervision  is  that  of  the  police.  The  courts  have 
repeatedly  recognized  that  in  the  control  over  the  police, 
municipal  officials  are  acting  not  as  local  authorities,  but  as 
agents  of  the  state.  And  this  view  has  often  been  made  the 
excuse  for  vesting  the  police  administration  of  some  cities 
completely  in  state  appointed  authorities.  This  special 
treatment  of  particular  cities  cannot  be  defended  on  any 
general  principle ;  but  the  judicial  view  of  the  state's  authority 
and  the  interests  of  the  state  as  a  whole  in  an  effective  and 
honest  police  administration  do  warrant  a  general  system 
of  supervision  in  this  field.  This  is  not  introducing  any  novel 
idea  into  our  system  of  government,  nor  does  it  require  any 
elaborate  system  of  new  officials  to  put  it  into  effect.  All 
that  is  necessary  is  to  energize  one  of  the  oldest  factors  in 
our  system  of  local  government.  Make  it  the  specific  duty 
of  the  county  sheriffs,  the  responsible  peace  officers,  to  inspect 
the  local  police  within  their  jurisdiction,  and  to  report 
periodically  to  the  governor  of  the  state;  and  give  to 
the  governors  in  all  states  a  power,  now  partially  given  in 
some,^  to  remove  dehnquent  sheriffs  or  other  local  police 
officers. 

To  summarize:  The  demand  for  municipal  home  rule 
should  be  made  more  specific  and  more  definite.  It  must  be 
made  clear  that  what  is  wanted  is,  not  a  revolution  involving 
the  complete  separation  of  the  cities  from  the  state,  but  a 

*  New  York,  Michigan,  Wisconsin. 


38  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

larger  freedom  in  matters  of  local  concern  from  the  restrictions 
of  detailed  municipal  legislation,  while  retaining  the  control 
of  the  judiciary  and  asking  for  the  assistance  and  supervision 
of  state  officers  in  securing  the  highest  and  the  best  municipal 
administration  in  the  world. 


m 

THE  RELATION   OF   CIVIL   SERVICE   REFORM   TO 
MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION^ 

The  problems  of  municipal  administration  present  a  mani- 
fold and  complex  variety  of  topics.  Some  are  political,  such 
as  the  regulation  of  nomination  and  election  methods.  Some, 
dealing  with  the  machinery  of  local  organization  and  the 
relations  of  the  city  to  the  State  government,  are  adminis- 
trative. Others  involve  questions  of  economic  policy  as  to 
the  proper  scope  of  municipal  activity.  While  still  others 
embrace  in  themselves  a  wide  variety  of  problems  in  engi- 
neering, sanitary  science,  and  other  technical  subjects. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to  consider  only  one  aspect 
of  the  administrative  problems,  the  application  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  civil  service  reform  in  the  organization  of  municipal 
government.  These  principles  hardly  need  to  be  enumerated 
here.  But  they  may  be  briefly  summarized  as  the  selection 
of  public  officials  and  employees  on  the  basis  of  their  ability 
and  fitness  for  their  public  duties,  rather  than  as  rewards 
or  opportunities  for  private  or  party  service;  and  the  main- 
tenance of  the  public  service  on  the  basis  of  honesty  and  the 
highest  efficiency. 

That  any  discussion  or  argument  in  support  of  these  prin- 
ciples is  necessary  is  of  itself  evidence  of  a  strange  miscon- 
ception of  the  purposes  of  municipal  government.  And  it 
is  surely  enough  to  establish  the  fundamental  principles  to 
point  to  the  laws  creating  public  positions  and  prescribing 
their  duties.  These  at  least  assume  that  the  public  servants 
are  provided  to  perform  public  functions.^    And  the  hardiest 

*  An  address  delivered  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  National  Civil 
Service  Reform  League,  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  Dec.  15,  1905. 

*  The  standard  treatise  on  the  law  of  public  officers  states  that  it  is 
the  duty  of  the  governor  to  see  that  fit  and  competent  officials  are  ap- 
pointed by  him.  —  Mechem,  Public  Officers,  Sec.  590.  And  the  same 
principle  must  apply  also  to  municipal  appointments. 

89 


40  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

spoils  politicians  have  not  yet  ventured  to  place  their 
principle  "To  the  victors  belong  the  spoils"  openly  on  the 
statute  book. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  only  too  clear,  that  the  plain  intent  of 
the  law  is  frequently  and  systematically  evaded  in  most 
of  our  large  cities.  Appointments  are  made  of  persons  who 
have  little  or  no  competence  for  their  positions,  as  rewards 
for  past  or  future  political  services.  And  to  make  room  for 
such  appointments  experienced  officials  and  employees  are 
removed.  As  a  result  the  public  service  is  notoriously  ineffi- 
cient and  at  times  almost  demoralized.  The  inherent  dis- 
honesty to  the  community  in  such  appointments  makes  it 
an  easy  step  to  more  flagrant  neglect  of  duty  and  corruption 
of  the  worst  sort.  While  the  whole  system  tends  to  debauch 
and  corrupt  the  electorate  by  offering  places  for  votes. 

Looking  simply  at  its  direct  effect  on  municipal  adminis- 
tration, a  brief  analysis  will  show  the  importance  of  efficient 
and  expert  officials.  Municipal  administration  is  already  a 
complicated  series  of  technical  services.  To  maintain  order 
and  security  a  police  force  must  be  maintained,  under  semi- 
military  discipline,  requiring  qualifications  of  physical  strength, 
courage,  and  honesty  for  any  effective  work.  To  prevent 
destruction  by  fire,  there  must  be  a  fire  department,  whose 
members  should  have  the  highest  physical  skill  and  technical 
knowledge  of  the  intricate  apparatus  used.  To  safeguard 
the  health  of  the  community  there  must  be  a  department 
with  expert  sanitarians,  chemists,  and  bacteriologists.  To 
provide  the  essential  conveniences  of  city  life  there  must  be 
civil  engineers  to  lay  out  streets  and  construct  pavements 
and  sewers,  hydraulic  engineers  to  manage  water  works,  and 
sanitary  engineers  to  solve  the  problems  of  garbage  and  sewage 
disposal.  To  lay  out  and  care  for  the  public  parks  there  must 
be  landscape  architects  and  gardeners.  To  administer  public 
charity  wisely  and  not  wastefully  requires  trained  students 
of  practical  philanthropy;  and  in  public  hospitals  a  corps  of 
physicians  and  trained  nurses.    To  carry  out  the  policy  of 


CIVIL   SERVICE    REFORM  41 

public  education  there  must  be  not  only  competent  elemen- 
tary teachers,  but  in  the  high  schools  those  with  the  highest 
specialized  education,  and  over  all  efficient  educational  ad- 
ministrators. To  keep  track  of  the  finances  in  these  various 
fields  of  expenditure  demands  a  force  of  expert  accountants; 
and  to  equitably  assess  taxes  there  should  be  an  equally 
expert  body  of  assessors.  While  to  deal  with  the  many  legal 
questions  which  arise,  every  large  city  must  employ  a  number 
of  attorneys,  specially  versed  in  questions  of  municipal  law. 

Our  cities  do  not  have  to  wait  for  municipal  street  railways 
to  be  face  to  face  with  most  serious  problems  of  technical 
administration.  Even  now  the  corps  of  municipal  officials 
and  employees  represents  every  main  division  of  industrial 
and  professional  life.  Lawyers,  teachers,  accountants,  engi- 
neers of  almost  every  sort,  besides  executive  administrators, 
are  essential  to  carry  out  the  accepted  functions  of  municipal 
government. 

Positions  such  as  these  cannot  safely  be  filled  on  any 
such  basis  as  political  service.  Each  field  is  a  special  pro- 
fession requiring  years  of  training;  and  those  who  are  most 
competent  have  too  many  opportunities  in  private  business 
to  devote  much  time  to  political  campaigning;  while  they 
are  also  Hkely  to  hesitate  about  accepting  a  municipal  position 
with  the  uncertain  tenure  of  a  political  appointment.  More- 
over, the  municipal  service  for  most  of  these  professions  is 
of  itself  a  specialized  branch,  where  the  highest  degree  of 
efficiency  can  only  be  secured  by  continued  practice.  A 
city  attorney  who  serves  only  for  a  few  years  cannot  be  so 
competent  in  the  law  on  municipal  questions  as  a  corpora- 
tion lawyer  who  devotes  his  life  to  corporation  law  is  on  that 
subject.  And  a  civil  engineer  who  serves  for  a  while  as  a  city 
officer  and  then  in  railroad  building  is  not  likely  to  be  either 
the  most  competent  city  engineer  or  the  most  competent 
railroad  engineer.  What  is  needed  is  a  class  of  municipal 
specialists  in  law,  accounting,  engineering,  and  other  fields 
of  action.    And  these  can  only  be  secured  under  a  system 


42  ESSAYS   IN  MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

of  selection  which  excludes  political  motives  and  insures 
a  tenure  based  only  on  efficiency  and  competence. 

Conditions  in  this  regard  are  different  from  those  in  earlier 
periods.  It  has  sometimes  seemed  to  me  that  there  was 
a  certain  harmony  between  the  principle  of  rotation  in  office 
and  conditions  which  prevailed  in  this  country  during  the 
first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  While  the  country  was 
being  settled  there  was  a  constant  movement  of  population 
from  place  to  place  and  frequent  changes  of  occupation. 
Short  terms  of  office  and  frequent  changes  were  then  in  accord 
with  the  restless  customs  and  practices  of  the  people  in  their 
private  business.  And  it  might  have  been  argued  that  an 
officeholder  who  wished  to  hold  an  office  for  many  years 
doubtless  lacked  the  ability  to  take  advantage  of  opportunities 
for  bettering  his  situation. 

But  these  conditions  are  no  longer  in  force.  At  the  pres- 
ent time  the  jack-of-all-trades  is  almost  certainly  so  because 
he  lacks  the  ability  to  become  master  of  one.  The  success- 
ful man  in  private  business  is  the  specialist  who  devotes  his 
life  to  one  purpose.  And  what  is  true  of  the  individual  in 
private  life  is  true  also  for  those  who  hold  positions  in  the 
municipal  or  other  public  service.  The  largest  results  will 
come  by  division  of  labor  and  concentration  of  effort.  The 
best  pubhc  servants  will  be  those  who  give  the  longest  time 
to  the  public  service ;  and  that  city  or  State  will  get  the  best 
results  which  looks  for  the  most  capable  men  and  keeps 
them  in  its  service  so  as  to  secure  the  advantage  of  their 
increasing  experience. 

Some  steps  have  been  taken  to  apply  the  principles  laid 
down  to  the  municipal  service.  Systems  of  civil  service 
examinations  have  been  established  in  a  number  of  cities 
applying  to  most  of  the  subordinate  positions.  Appoint- 
ments to  these  positions  are  based  on  the  results  of  open 
competitive  examinations  and  probationary  service;  with 
the  result  that  these  places  are  to  a  large  extent  taken  "out 
of  politics."     In  some  other  cities  the  police  and  fire  depart- 


CIVIL   SERVICE   REFORM  43 

ments  are  more  or  less  protected  against  political  appoint- 
ments. And  more  generally  school-teachers  are  selected 
with  comparatively  little  reference  to  political  influence. 

Into  the  details  of  these  systems  it  is  not  necessary  to  go 
here.  They  have  placed  a  smaller  or  larger  part  of  the 
municipal  employees  on  a  sound  administrative  footing; 
and  although  the  law  is  sometimes  evaded  by  hostile  officials, 
the  results  have  been  a  great  improvement  in  the  standard 
of  municipal  work.  In  other  cities  efforts  towards  the  same 
end  are  being  made.  And  the  extensions  of  these  systems 
as  rapidly  and  as  far  as  possible  is  one  of  the  most  important 
municipal  reforms  at  the  present  time. 

But  what  has  been  accomplished  in  most  of  these  cases 
applies  mainly  to  the  subordinate  posts  in  the  municipal 
service.  These  are  by  far  the  largest  in  number.  But  the 
important  positions,  and  above  all  the  officers  as  distinguished 
from  the  employees  of  our  cities,  are  still  chosen  largely  or 
mainly  for  political  reasons.  And  until  these  too  are  chosen 
solely  for  ability,  competence,  and  honesty,  no  satisfactory 
municipal  administration  can  be  secured. 

Political  appointments  to  the  higher  posts  affect  the 
character  of  municipal  work  in  two  ways.  Such  officials 
are  likely  to  seek  to  evade  whatever  regulations  are  estab- 
lished for  the  subordinate  service  so  as  to  reward  their  political 
supporters;  and  in  this  way  they  prove  a  constant  obstacle 
in  the  application  of  the  merit  system  so  far  as  introduced. 
But  of  even  more  importance  is  the  fact  that  it  is  in  the  case 
of  the  higher  officials  that  incompetence  and  inexperience 
proves  most  costly  to  the  city.  Some  gain  is  made  when 
the  clerical  and  routine  work  is  well  done.  But  much  more 
is  lost  if  serious  blunders  are  made  in  the  main  plans,  or  in 
the  direction  of  their  execution. 

Incompetent  city  engineers  may  easily  double  the  neces- 
sary cost  of  an  important  scheme  of  public  improvement. 
City  comptrollers  have  generally  had  so  little  knowledge  of 
accounting  that  it  is  almost  impossible  for  any  one  to  under- 


44  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

stand  their  financial  reports.  City  attorneys  who  know 
more  politics  than  law  are  likely  to  recommend  useless  liti- 
gation and  in  other  cases  to  surrender  the  legal  rights  of  the 
city.  And  city  clerks  who  are  changed  every  few  years  can- 
not perform  one  of  their  main  functions  as  a  source  of  infor- 
mation on  the  previous  actions  of  the  municipal  government. 

How  can  these  principles  of  civil  service  reform  be  applied 
to  these  higher  municipal  officials?  The  methods  employed 
in  selecting  employees  for  subordinate  positions  will  hardly 
be  in  every  detail  the  most  effective  for  these  more  impor- 
tant posts.  Something  more  is  needed  than  a  test  of  their 
technical  knowledge.  What  is  wanted  are  those  who  know 
best  how  to  apply  their  knowledge  in  a  constructive  manner, 
and  those  who  have  the  peculiar  form  of  ability  known  as 
executive  or  business  capacity.  Moreover,  for  these  posts  the 
test  of  brief  probationary  appointments  cannot  well  be  applied. 
For  those  best  fitted  for  such  places  will  be  already  engaged  in 
similar  work,  and  are  not  likely  to  abandon  a  permanent  posi- 
tion for  a  probationary  appointment  in  the  public  service. 

These  difficulties  require  some  changes  in  methods.  But 
such  changes  of  detail  are  by  no  means  impossible  or  incon- 
sistent with  the  main  principles  of  the  merit  system.  The 
important  point  is  to  find  the  methods  best  adapted  for 
various  classes  of  offices. 

One  of  the  first  steps  that  must  be  taken  in  many  cities  is 
to  take  these  higher  administrative  posts  out  of  the  class  of 
elective  offices.  Popular  election  necessarily  introduces 
political  factors  into  the  choice  of  officers,  and  for  officers 
who  have  political  functions  to  perform  popular  election  is 
essential  in  a  democratic  government.  But  city  clerks, 
city  attorneys,  city  comptrollers,  commissioners  of  public 
works,  and  city  engineers  have  no  political  functions  to  per- 
form. Their  work  not  only  has  no  relation  to  national 
politics;  it  has  no  relation  to  municipal  politics.  Their 
duties  are  strictly  administrative  and  call  for  the  same  quali- 
fications whether  a  city  votes  for  or  against  municipal  owner- 


CIVIL   SERVICE  REFORM  45 

ship,  and  whether  it  votes  for  or  against  a  "wide  open" 
saloon  policy.  And  whatever  other  method  is  employed, 
it  is  clear  that  popular  election  is  not  the  best  method  to  test 
technical  and  administrative  ability.  Moreover,  by  remov- 
ing such  officers  from  the  elective  list,  the  attention  of  the 
voters  will  be  concentrated  on  the  personal  merits  of  the 
candidates  for  the  political  offices,  and  better  results  may 
be  hoped  for  the  latter  under  such  conditions. 

But  appointments,  whether  by  mayor  or  council,  will  be 
made  by  political  officials;  and,  so  far  as  discretion  is  left 
to  them,  there  is  still  the  danger  that  political  motives  will 
be  a  controlling  factor.  To  reduce  this  danger,  another 
step,  which  is  still  within  the  purposes  of  this  Association, 
is  to  eliminate  the  official  recognition  of  national  parties  in 
municipal  elections.  I  am  not  at  all  confident  that  it  is 
possible  by  law  to  prevent  the  national  party  organizations 
from  taking  an  active  part  in  local  campaigns.  But  at  least 
the  law  should  not  recognize  them  officially,  and  should  re- 
quire each  candidate  for  municipal  office  to  appear  on  the 
ballot  simply  as  an  individual.  This  will  not  eliminate 
politics,  or  even  national  politics,  from  municipal  elections. 
But  it  will  tend  to  reduce  these  factors  to  some  extent. 

In  the  next  place,  appointments  to  the  higher  positions 
should  be  for  an  indefinite  term.  The  power  of  removal 
must  be  retained  for  such  offices,  as  a  means  of  control  over 
incompetent  officials;  and  this  will  make  it  possible  for 
removals  to  be  made  for  political  reasons.  But  to  create 
a  vacancy  by  removal  is  at  least  somewhat  more  difficult 
than  to  find  one  by  the  expiration  of  a  definite  term.  And 
the  law  at  least  will  stand  for  the  principle  that  the  competent 
officials  are  to  be  retained  so  long  as  they  perform  their  duties 
satisfactorily.  This  rule  has  been  established  in  the  new 
Indiana  municipal  code.  It  also  applies  to  most  of  the  heads 
of  departments  in  New  York  City;  and  is  probably  respon- 
sible for  the  retention  of  one  commissioner  appointed  by 
Mayor  Low  in  the  succeeding  administration. 


46  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

These  various  provisions,  it  is  believed,  will  do  something 
toward  reducing  political  influences  in  filling  the  higher 
offices.  But  they  can  hardly  be  expected  to  secure  their 
disappearance  and  the  selection  of  these  officers  mainly  from 
considerations  of  ability  and  experience.  For  that  purpose, 
some  provision  must  be  made  for  a  systematic  investigation 
of  the  qualifications  of  various  applicants,  so  as  to  determine 
who  is  best  fitted  for  the  place. 

Such  an  investigation  should,  however,  be  somewhat 
different  from  the  examinations  for  subordinate  places. 
It  should  test  not  only  technical  knowledge,  but  also  practical 
experience  and  constructive  ability.  Such  tests  can  be 
applied.  They  are  now  used  in  many  cases  by  the  United 
States  Civil  Service  Commission,  for  technical  and  profes- 
sional positions  in  the  national  administration.  They  are 
used  to  a  large  extent  in  the  system  for  regulating  admission 
to  the  higher  branches  of  the  Paris  municipal  service.  In 
the  latter  case,  the  more  important  part  of  the  test  for  candi- 
dates is  a  detailed  report  on  a  special  topic  within  the  field 
of  his  work.  The  same  idea  is  recognized  in  our  universities 
in  conferring  the  degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy,  where  the 
thesis  showing  the  candidate's  personal  research  and  con- 
structive ability,  is  of  at  least  equal  importance  with  the 
general  examination.  In  the  same  way,  candidates  for  the 
higher  municipal  offices  could  be  asked  to  submit  statements 
of  their  practical  experience  and  some  examples  of  their 
constructive  work. 

Moreover,  in  order  that  practical  experience  may  be  given 
its  full  advantage,  the  competition  for  these  higher  municipal 
posts  should  not  be  limited  to  residents  of  the  city,  but  should 
be  thrown  open  to  any  one.  Already  this  rule  is  largely 
recognized  in  the  selection  of  school  superintendents,  and  it 
is  generally  felt  that  these  are  the  most  capable  and  efficient 
of  our  higher  municipal  officials.  In  England,  vacancies  in 
such  positions  as  town  clerk  and  borough  engineer  are  ad- 
vertised and  applications  are  made  from  all  over  the  country. 


CIVIL  SEKVICE   REFORM  47 

In  Germany,  it  has  even  happened  that  a  mayor  has  been 
chosen  in  Berlin  on  the  basis  of  his  record  in  a  smaller  city. 
By  making  these  higher  positions  open  to  all  candidates, 
the  large  cities  can  get  the  benefit  of  experience  and  ability 
proven  in  actual  service. 

Another  feature  of  the  regulations  for  the  higher  munici- 
pal service  in  Paris  might  well  be  adopted  for  the  higher 
offices  in  this  country.  This  is  an  examination  in  the  system 
of  pubfic  administration.  Very  many  of  our  public  officials 
—  or  indeed  of  the  best  educated  citizens — have  no  clear  idea 
of  even  the  main  principles  of  our  system  of  local  govern- 
ment. Yet  they  must  act  in  accordance  with  the  laws  es- 
tablishing the  government ;  and  in  their  ignorance  often  make 
serious  mistakes  which  lead  to  protracted  litigation.  A  defi- 
nite knowledge  of  our  system  of  administration  on  the  part  of 
public  officials  would  save  our  cities  much  trouble  and  expense. 

By  such  methods  a  merit  system  can  be  applied  to  the 
higher  posts,  as  well  as  the  subordinate  places,  in  the  mu- 
nicipal service.  And  these  reforms  are  among  the  most 
important  needed  in  municipal  administration  at  the  present 
time.  Without  them  no  city  can  successfully  perform  the 
functions  it  is  now  undertaking.  And  without  them  there 
can  be  no  safe  extension  of  municipal  activities  into  new  fields. 

Nor  does  the  merit  system  involve  any  departure  from 
the  fundamental  principles  of  American  government.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  the  most  direct  method  of  putting  them 
into  effect.    As  one  writer  has  well  said:  — 

"This  system  is  democratic,  for  it  gives  every  citizen 
an  equal  opportunity  to  participate  in  the  public  service 
according  to  his  fitness.  It  is  economical,  because  it  brings 
into  office  competent  persons  who  work  for  their  wages  and 
are  not  required  to  spend  half  the  city's  time  'hustling' 
for  votes  or  organizing  political  clubs.  It  is  scientific  because, 
through  permanence  of  official  tenure,  it  develops  specialists 
in  every  department  of  city  administration."  * 

»  D.  F.  Wilcox,  The  American  City,  p.  300. 


IV 
MUNICIPAL    CORPORATIONS    IN    THE    COLONIES* 

American  municipal  government  has  its  historical  origin 
in  the  chartered  boroughs  or  municipal  corporations  estab- 
lished in  several  of  the  English  colonies  during  the  seventeenth 
and  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  centuries.  The  hundred  and 
thirty  years  since  the  end  of  the  colonial  period  has  wrought 
an  enormous  development  in  the  scale  of  municipal  activities, 
has  seen  the  addition  of  many  new  municipal  functions,  and 
has  been  accompanied  by  many  changes  in  municipal  or- 
ganization. But  the  institutional  history  from  the  colonial 
corporations  to  the  cities  of  to-day  is  continuous,  and  the 
influence  of  the  former  on  the  latter  is  clearly  visible.  An 
account  of  the  organization  and  activities  of  these  colonial 
boroughs  should  therefore  have  the  same  interest  to  the 
student  of  municipal  government,  that  the  town  meeting 
has  to  the  student  of  rural  institutions.  It  forms  in  fact 
a  necessary  introduction  to  any  history  of  municipal  develop- 
ment in  the  United  States. 

A  complete  explanation  of  the  ultimate  origin  of  the  colonial 
borough  ^  —  and  hence  of  the  American  city  —  would  re- 

•  Reprinted  from  Municipal  Affairs,  II,  341  (September,  1898). 
It  may  be  noted  that  this  original  publication  antedated  by  several 
years  the  article  on  "Municipal  Corporations"  by  Professor  Henry 
Wade  Rogers,  in  the  Yale  bicentenary  volume  on  Two  Centuries'  Growth 
of  American  Law,  which  article  contains  some  striking  resemblances  to 
this  paper  both  in  subject-matter  and  foot-note  references. 

'  The  name  "borough"  is  used  as  a  generic  term  for  all  of  the  colonial 
municipal  corporations;  although,  as  will  be  noticed,  some  of  them 
(in  fact  all  the  most  important  of  them)  were  called  cities  from  the  first. 
The  name  "  borough  "  is  preferred,  because  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
student  of  institutions  they  were  English  boroughs  created  in  the  English 
colonies.  The  name  "city  "  has  no  institutional  connotation  in  connection 
with  these  corporations;    none  of  them  had  the  characteristic  feature 

48 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS  IN   THE   COLONIES  49 

quire  a  history  of  the  development  of  the  Enghsh  borough. 
The  general  outline  of  this  is,  however,  familiar  to  students 
of  English  history;  and  at  any  rate  it  is  not  possible  to  give 
here  more  than  the  briefest  outline  of  the  English  borough 
as  it  existed  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The  typical  con- 
stitution, general  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Henry  VII,  is 
described  by  Bishop  Stubbs  as  a  "close  corporation  of  a 
mayor,  alderman,  and  council  with  precisely  defined  organiza- 
tion and  numbers  —  not  indeed  uniform,  but  of  the  same 
general  conformation  —  possessing  a  new  character  denoted 
in  the  name  of  *  corporation '  in  its  legal  sense."  ^  In  each 
borough  there  was  also  a  number  of  freemen  in  whom  were 
vested  the  right  of  voting  for  members  of  Parliament,  and 
who  had  certain  exclusive  trading  privileges  and  exemptions 
from  tolls  and  market  dues  —  privileges  which  in  some  in- 
stances were  of  no  little  pecuniary  importance.  The  powers 
and  functions  of  the  corporations  varied  widely  in  the  different 
communities.  But  in  general  the  local  matters  in  charge 
of  the  borough  officials  were  not  of  vast  importance.  The 
church-wardens,  overseers  of  the  poor,  and  overseers  of 
highways  had  the  same  powers  in  the  parishes  within  a 
borough  as  in  rural  parishes.  The  problems  of  street  pav- 
ing, street  lighting,  drainage,  and  water  supply  had  not  at 
this  time  been  forced  on  the  attention  of  the  people  through 
density  of  population.  In  the  time  of  Charles  II,  there  was 
no  town  in  England  outside  London  with  a  population  of 
over  30,000,  and  only  four  provincial  towns  contained  so  many 
as  10,000  inhabitants.^  The  management  of  local  police, 
the  judicial  administration,  the  direction  of  markets,  and 
the  charge  of  the  ancient  town  property  sum  up  the  local 

of  the  English  city  —  a  cathedral  church,  as  the  residence  of  a  bishop  — 
and  the  use  of  the  name  "  borough  "  will  serve  to  emphasize  the  fact  that 
the  colonial  institution  had  a  much  closer  resemblance  to  its  English 
prototype  than  to  the  American  institution  which  a  century  of  evolution 
has  developed. 

*  Constitutional  History  of  England,  Til,  577. 

*  Macaulay,  History  of  England,  I,  261. 


50  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

interests  under  the  control  of  the  borough  governments 
even  in  the  larger  towns.  In  many  of  the  small  towns  which 
had  been  created  boroughs  simply  for  the  purpose  of  controll- 
ing Parliament,  the  corporation  had  no  local  duties  whatever, 
the  election  of  members  to  Parliament  constituting  their 
sole  function. 

DISTRIBUTION   OF   COLONIAL  BOROUGHS* 

The  earliest  mention  of  boroughs  in  American  history  is  in 
connection  with  the  first  Virginia  Assembly.  The  members 
of  this  assembly  were  called  "  burgesses,"  and  the  districts 
which  they  represented  were  called  "boroughs."  Jamestown 
was  a  borough,  so  also  were  Henrico  and  Bermuda  Hundred; 
in  all,  by  the  summer  of  1619,  there  were  eleven  boroughs 
in  the  colony  of  Virginia  entitled  to  send  members  to  the 
colonial  assembly.^  These  boroughs,  however,  were  in  no 
way  municipal  corporations;  they  were  not  even  local 
government  organizations;  they  were  election  districts  for 
members  to  the  assembly,  and  nothing  more.  The  use  of 
the  name  "  borough  "  indicates  how  completely  subordinate 
the  local  functions  of  most  English  boroughs  had  become  in 
comparison  with  its  position  as  a  parliamentary  district. 
The  name  "burgess"  remained  the  title  of  members  of  the 

*  LIST   OP   COLONIAL   BOROUGHS 

Agamenticus,  Me.  Perth  Amboy,  N.J.,  chartered  1718. 

(now  York,  Me.),  chartered  1641.  Bristol,  Penn.,         chartered  1720. 

Kittery,  Me.,              chartered  1647.  Williamsburg,  Va.,  chartered  1722. 

New  York,  N.Y.,       chartered  1686.  N.  Brunswick,  N. J.,  chartered  1730. 

Albany,  N.Y.,             chartered  1686.  Burlington,  N.J.,     chartered  1733. 

Germantown,  Penn.,  chartered  1687.  Norfolk,  Va.,           chartered  1736. 

Philadelphia,  Penn.,  chartered  1691.  Richmond,  Va.,       chartered  1742. 

Chester,  Penn.,           chartered  1701.  Elizabeth,  N.J.,       chartered  1740. 

Westchester,  N.Y.,    chartered  170?*  Lancaster,  Penn.,    chartered  1742. 

Bath,  N.C.,  chartered  1705.  Trenton,  N.J.,  chartered  1746. 
Annapolis,  Md.,          chartered  1708. 

*  The  Colonial  Laws  of  New  York  show  that  Westchester  was  a  town  as  late 
as  1700,  but  was  a  borough  by  1705. 

» Stith,  History  of  Virginia,  pp.  160-161. 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS  IN   THE  COLONIES  51 

Virginia  Assembly  even  after  the  representation  was  based 
on  the  county,  and  the  lower  house  of  the  Virginia  legislature 
was  called  the  "House  of  Burgesses"  until  the  Revolution. 
Governor  Winthrop  of  Massachusetts,  in  his  Journal, 
mentions  as  one  reason  why  the  province  of  Maine  was  not 
admitted  to  the  Confederation  of  the  United  Colonies  of  New 
England,  that  "They  had  lately  made  Acomenticus  (a  poor 
village)  a  corporation,  and  had  made  a  tailor  their  mayor."  * 
This  borough  of  Acomenticus  —  or  Agamenticus  —  is  the 
first  instance  of  the  establishment  of  the  English  municipal 
corporation  in  America.  The  first  settlement  had  been 
made  at  Agamenticus  by  Sir  Fernando  Gorges  in  1624,  and 
by  1630  the  place  had  a  population  of  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty.''  The  grant  to  Gorges  had  authorized  him  to  in- 
corporate boroughs,  and  on  April  10,  1641,  he  issued  a  char- 
ter on  the  English  model.'  In  less  than  a  year  he  issued 
another  charter,  erecting  the  borough  of  Agamenticus  into 
a  city  by  the  name  of  "Georgeana,"  *  and  the  mayor,  recorder 
and  alderman  were  duly  selected  for  the  new  city.^  In  1647 
Gorges  incorporated  the  village  of  Kittery  as  a  borough,* 
and  a  decided  movement  toward  the  founding  of  boroughs 
in  this  colony  at  least  would  seem  on  first  sight  to  have  been 
inaugurated.  In  fact,  however,  these  boroughs  were  little 
more  than  paper  corporations.  The  charters  of  Gorges  were 
almost  ignored  by  the  actual  settlers,  who  made  arrange- 
ments for  their  local  government  to  suit  themselves.'  And 
in  1652,  on  the  union  of  Maine  with  Massachusetts,  the 
charters  lost  even  their  legal  standing.  The  boroughs  were 
organized  under  the  Massachusetts  town  system,  and  the  name 

*  John  Winthrop,  Journal,  II,  121. 

*  W.  D.  Williamson,  History  of  Maine,  I,  267. 
'"Charter"  in  Hazard,  Historical  Collections,  I,  470. 

*  Ibid.,  480. 

*  G.  A.  Emery,  History  of  Georgeana  and  York,  gives  a  list  of  the 
first  city  oflBcers. 

'  W.  D.  Williamson,  History  of  Maine,  I,  346. 
1  Emery,  History  of  Georgeana  and  York,  p.  41 . 


52  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

of  Agamenticus  was  changed  once  more,  this  time  to  York, 
which  name  it  has  retained  ever  since.  ^  York  was  one  of 
the  two  principal  towns  of  Maine  during  the  colonial  period. 
Had  it  remained  a  borough,  its  development  must  have  been 
of  great  value  to  this  study.  As  it  is,  the  charters  of  Aga- 
menticus and  Georgeana  are  of  interest  mainly  as  curiosities. 

The  Corporation  of  New  York  —  the  first  borough  with 
an  active  existence  —  dates  from  June  12, 1665,  when  a  proc- 
lamation issued  by  Governor  Nicols  declared  that  "the 
inhabitants  of  New  York  ...  are  and  shall  be  for  ever 
accounted,  nominated  and  established  as  one  Body,  Politique 
and  Corporate."  ^  The  municipal  history  of  New  Amster- 
dam, and  the  long  struggle  between  the  inhabitants  and  the 
governors  sent  over  by  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  are 
of  interest  to  the  local  historian,  but  have  httle  bearing  on 
the  borough  government  of  New  York,  It  may  be  noted, 
however,  that  in  1653  the  inhabitants  on  Manhattan  Island 
secured  the  forms  of  government  of  a  Dutch  city ;  ^  and  that 
in  1658  the  acknowledgment  of  the  right  of  the  retiring 
officers  to  name  a  double  list  of  nominees,  from  whom  the 
governor  was  required  to  select  the  city  officials  for  the 
following  year,  established  a  limited  degree  of  local  inde- 
pendence. The  fact  that  New  Amsterdam  had  the  govern- 
mental organization  of  a  Dutch  city  undoubtedly  had  its 
weight  in  the  immediate  establishment  of  New  York  as  a  cor- 
poration; but  in  other  respects  the  influence  of  Dutch  in- 
stitutions on  the  municipal  development  of  New  York  seems 
to  have  been  but  slight. 

Although  created  a  corporation  in  1665,  New  York  did 
not  at  this  time  receive  a  charter.  The  mayor,  aldermen, 
and  sheriff  were  appointed  from  year  to  year  by  the  governor 
of  the  province,  and  they  exercised  such  powers  as  seemed 
advisable  to  the  authorities.     Many  of  the  municipal  usages 

*  W.  D.  Williamson,  History  of  Maine,  T,  346. 

'  "  Proclamation,"  in  Documentary  History  of  New  York,  I,  390. 

'  Documentary  History  of  New  York,  I,  387. 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS   IN   THE   COLONIES  53 

were  allowed  to  remain  uncertain,  and  much  power  over  the 
concerns  of  the  city  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  governor. 
Governor  Andros,  for  example,  took  a  personal  interest  and 
exercised  a  personal  supervision  of  municipal  affairs,  and 
did  much  to  beautify  the  city.^ 

The  need  was  felt  for  establishing  the  municipal  govern- 
ment on  a  firmer  basis,  and  when,  in  1683,  Governor  Dongan 
arrived  in  the  colony,  the  mayor  and  aldermen  presented 
a  petition  for  a  charter,  confirming  their  "ancient  customs, 
privileges,  and  immunities,"  with  certain  additional  officers, 
and  providing  that  the  aldermen  should  be  elected  by  the 
inhabitants  instead  of  appointed  by  the  governor.^  Dongan 
agreed  to  allow  the  wishes  of  the  petitioners  to  go  into  effect 
at  once,  but  declined  to  issue  a  charter  until  he  heard  from 
the  Duke  of  York.  In  1686  the  mayor  and  recorder  sub- 
mitted a  draft  of  the  desired  charter  to  the  governor,  and 
this  was  allowed  April  27,  1686,  was  duly  signed  by  the 
governor,  and  sealed  with  the  old  provincial  seal  sent  out  in 
1669.  This  charter,  based  partly  on  existing  customs,  some 
of  which  were  affected  by  the  peculiar  conditions  of  a  colony, 
but  in  the  main  similar  to  the  charters  of  English  boroughs,  has 
continued  to  be  the  basis  of  the  municipal  laws,  rights,  privi- 
leges, public  property,  and  franchises  of  the  city.  That  it 
was  called  a  city  in  the  charter  instead  of  a  borough  was 
probably  because  it  had  been  called  a  city  when  under  the 
Dutch,  and  had,  under  its  new  name,  continued  to  be  called 
a  city  after  the  English  conquest. 

In  1730  New  York  received  another  charter  from  Governor 
Montgomerie.  The  Dongan  charter,  although  not  issued 
until  over  a  year  after  the  Duke  of  York  had  become  King 
of  England,  had  been  sealed  with  the  ducal  seal  instead  of 
the  royal  seal  sent  over  after  the  death  of  Charles  II.  It 
was  feared  that  this  invalidated  the  Dongan  charter,^  and 

'  Memorial  History  of  New  York,  I,  397. 

'  Documents  relating  to  the  Colonial  History  of  New  York,  III,  337. 
'  See  letters  of  Governors  Bellomont  and  Hunter  in  Documents  relat- 
ing to  the  Colonial  History  of  New  York,  IV,  812;   V,  369. 


64  ESSAYS   IN   MUNiaPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

thoroughly  to  establish  the  municipal  government  of  New 
York  on  a  legal  basis  the  new  charter  was  issued  in  1730, 
having  been  sent  to  England  to  receive  the  King's  seal/ 
The  Montgomerie  charter  made  some  important  additions 
to  the  powers  of  the  corporation  of  New  York.  It  remained 
in  force  until  1836,  except  during  the  period  of  the  British 
occupation  of  the  city  from  1776  to  1784.  It  was  confirmed 
by  the  New  York  state  constitution  of  1777,  but  was  modified 
by  state  legislation  after  the  Revolution. 

Three  months  after  granting  the  charter  to  New  York, 
Governor  Dongan  issued  a  charter  of  incorporation  for  the 
city  of  Albany.  The  settlement  at  the  head  of  navigation 
on  the  Hudson  River  had  existed,  under  various  names, 
since  the  first  appearance  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company 
in  North  America.  While  Stuyvesant  was  governor  of  New 
Netherlands,  a  local  organization  had  been  provided  for  this 
trading  post,^  and  when  the  English  took  possession  in  1664 
they  did  not  disturb  this,  merely  changing  the  name  of  the 
place  to  Albany.  In  1686  the  settlement  had  grown  so 
large '  that  further  provisions  for  local  government  were 
necessary.  The  issue  of  the  charter  to  New  York  pointed 
out  the  form  of  government  for  which  to  apply,  and  Peter 
Schuyler  and  Robert  Livingston  were  commissioned  to  go 
to  New  York  to  procure  a  charter.*  The  charter  procured 
was  somewhat  more  detailed  than  the  New  York  charter, 
and  contained  a  few  different  provisions.  In  the  main, 
however,  it  was  a  copy  of  the  earlier  instrument,  and  under 
it  the  city  of  Albany  was  governed  until  long  after  the  Revo- 
lution, except  for  two  years  during  the  war.® 

The  first  charter  of  Philadelphia  may  have  dated  earlier 

*  Memorial  History  of  New  York,  II,  190. 
'  Munsell,  Annals  of  Albany,  I,  189. 

'  In  1689  the  population  of  the  county  of  Albany  was  2016.  Docu- 
mentary History  of  New  York,  I,  690.  Probably  half  of  this  at  least 
"was  in  the  town  of  Albany. 

*  J.  Munsell,  Annals  of  Albany,  II,  88. 

*  J.  Munsell,  Collections  on  Albany,  I,  275. 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS   IN   THE   COLONIES  55 

than  the  Dongan  charters  to  New  York  and  Albany.  The 
location  for  the  centre  of  trade  and  the  political  capital  of 
the  new  colony  of  Pennsylvania  had  been  selected  in  1683, 
and  in  the  same  year  the  streets  were  laid  out  in  the  well- 
known  checkerboard  style.  On  the  26th  day  of  the  fifth 
month,  1684,  a  committee  of  the  Provincial  Council  was 
appointed  to  draw  up  a  charter  creating  the  Borough  of 
Philadelphia.^  There  is  no  record  of  the  action  of  the  com- 
mittee, but  the  city  charter  of  1691  recites  that  the  town  of 
Philadelphia  had  been  previously  erected  into  a  borough. 
No  account  remains  of  the  government  under  the  borough 
charter  or  under  the  charter  of  1691 ;  and  it  seems  probable 
that  after  1692  there  was  no  local  organization  in  existence 
until  in  1701  a  new  city  charter  was  granted.^  This  was 
substantially  a  revival  of  the  charter  of  ten  years  before, 
and  under  it  the  government  of  Philadelphia  was  conducted 
until  1776. 

Four  other  boroughs  were  incorporated  in  Pennsylvania 
during  the  colonial  period.  The  first  of  these,  Germantown, 
procured  its  charter  from  Perm  in  1689;  and  in  1691  the  new 
organization  went  into  effect.  The  German  settlers,  how- 
ever, cared  little  for  politics,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  that 
the  corporation  maintained  its  existence.  At  last,  in  1707, 
they  failed  to  find  officers  enough  to  serve,  and  thus  forfeited 
their  charter.  The  town  of  Bristol,  eighteen  miles  above 
Philadelphia,  on  the  Delaware,  was  established  in  1697. 
By  the  year  1720,  the  inhabitants  thought  it  to  their  ad- 
vantage to  be  incorporated,  and  a  number  of  them  petitioned 
the  governor  of  the  province.  Sir  William  Keith,  for  a  borough 
charter.'  The  petition  was  favorably  considered,  and  a 
charter  was  drafted  and  approved  by  the  colonial  board, 
July  19, 1720.    The  sanction  of  the  Crown  was  received  with 

^  Allinson  and  Penrose,  Philadelphia,  p.  4. 

*  The  existence  of  any  charter  prior  to  1701  was  for  a  long  time  con- 
sidered a  mjrth,  but  in  1887  the  charter  of  1691  was  discovered,  and  that 
it  went  into  operation  proved.     Pennsylvania  Magazine,  XV,  345. 

'  W.  P.  Holcomb,  Pennsylvania  Boroughs,  pp.  29,  30. 


56  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

the  necessary  letters  patent  on  November  14.  The  two 
other  Pennsylvania  boroughs  of  colonial  times  were  Chester 
and  Lancaster,  whose  charters  are  dated  respectively  in 
1701  and  1742,  The  charters  for  these  four  smaller  boroughs 
provided  a  simpler  form  of  government  than  that  established 
in  New  York,  Albany,  and  Philadelphia.  Their  influence 
on  the  later  development  of  local  government  institutions 
in  the  United  States  has  been  as  the  foundation  of  the  system 
of  "borough"  government  for  the  villages  and  smaller  towns 
of  Pennsylvania,  a  most  important  factor  in  the  local  govern- 
ment of  that  state. 

In  1705  the  city  of  Bath,  N.C.,  was  incorporated, 
but  this  never  became  more  than  a  mere  hamlet.^  The 
borough  of  Westchester  in  New  York  was  also  incorporated 
about  this  time,  but  did  not  become  a  place  of  much  promi- 
nence. A  more  important  case  is  that  of  Annapolis,  which  re- 
ceived its  charter  from  Governor  John  Seymour,  of  Maryland, 
on  August  16,  1708.^  In  1696  certain  persons  in  the  town 
had  been  created  by  act  of  the  assembly,  a  body  corporate 
and  politic  under  the  name  of  "Commissioners  and  trustees 
for  the  port  and  town  of  Annapolis,"  with  power  to  hold 
courts  and  make  by-laws.  Governor  Seymour  proposed 
a  charter  as  early  as  1704,  but  no  measures  being  taken  by 
the  assembly,  at  length  he  conferred  the  charter  by  virtue  of 
the  prerogative  of  his  office.^ 

In  Virginia  the  first  attempt  to  introduce  the  borough  as 
a  local  government  institution  was  by  the  Act  of  1705,* 
which  provided  for  the  establishment  of  certain  towns  as 
free  burghs  with  merchant  gilds,  benchers  of  the  gild  hall, 
and  other  features  of  the  English  mercantile  gilds.  The 
attempt  was  not  successful  in  the  colony,  and  it  was  also 

'  Moore,  History  of  North  Carolina. 

'  John  Fiske,  in  his  Civil  Government  in  the  U.  S.,  calls  Annapolis  the 
third  incorporation  in  America,  overlooking  Albany,  Germantown, 
Chester,  Westchester,  and  Bath,  as  well  as  the  two  in  Maine. 

'  D.  Ridgely,  Annals  of  Annapolis,  pp.  89,  110. 

*  Hening,  Statvies  of  Virginia,  III,  404. 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS   IN   THE   COLONIES  57 

opposed  in  England  on  the  ground  that  the  establishment 
of  towns  tended  to  the  encouragement  of  manufactures.* 
In  1710  Governor  Spotswood,  acting  under  instructions  from 
the  Crown,  issued  a  proclamation  repealing  the  Act.  It  was 
not  until  1722  that  a  charter  of  incorporation  was  granted 
in  Virginia,  when  Williamsburg,  the  new  capital  of  the  colony, 
was  incorporated.  In  1736  the  town  of  Norfolk  received 
a  borough  charter  from  Governor  William  Gooch.  Norfolk 
had  been  first  settled  under  the  influence  of  the  act  for  co- 
habitation and  encouragement  of  trade  and  manufacture, 
passed  in  1680.^  In  spite  of  the  suspension  of  the  act,  the 
town  continued  to  grow,  and  in  1736  the  population  had  so 
increased  that  the  inhabitants  petitioned  for  a  charter,' 
which  when  granted  remained  the  basis  of  its  local  govern- 
ment until  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Richmond 
was  also  incorporated  in  1742. 

Five  incorporating  charters  were  granted  in  the  colony  of 
New  Jersey,  to  the  "cities"  of  Perth  Amboy  (1718),  New 
Brunswick  (1730), and  Buriington  (1733), and  the  "boroughs" 
of  Elizabeth  (1740),  and  Trenton  (1746).*  One  of  the  objects 
aimed  at  in  the  incorporation  of  Perth  Amboy  was  the  pro- 
motion of  the  town  as  a  commercial  centre  in  rivalry  with 
New  York.  The  charter  states  that  it  is  incorporated  be- 
cause "it  is  best  situated  for  a  place  of  trade  and  as  a  harbor 
for  shipping  preferable  to  those  in  the  provinces  adjoining."  ' 
The  development  of  a  great  commercial  port  also  played  its 
part  in  the  incorporation  of  New  Brunswick,  which  was 
made  a  city,  because  it  stood  "  at  the  head  of  a  fine  navigable 
river,  and  being  the  most  convenient  place  for  shipping  of 
the  produce  lying  on  the  back  thereof." ' 

•  E.  Ingle,  Virginia  Local  Institutions,  in  Johns  Hopkins  University 
Studies,  III,  210. 

^  Hening,  Statutes  of  Virginia,  II,  471. 
'  Forrest,  History  of  Norfolk,  p.  49. 

•  A.  Scott  in  N.J.  Hist.  Soc.  Proc,  IX,  151.  » Ibid.,  p.  153. 

•  New  Brunswick  charter;  quoted  by  A.  Scott  in  N.  J.  Hist.  Soc.  Proc, 
IX,  153. 


58  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

A  comparison  of  the  charters  issued  to  the  "cities"  of  Perth 
Amboy  and  New  Brunswick  with  the  charter  granted  to  the 
"borough"  of  Elizabeth  shows  clearly  that  the  so-called 
cities  were  in  reality  the  same  institution  as  the  borough. 
The  three  charters  are  practically  identical  in  the  organiza- 
tion provided,  and  in  the  allotment  and  distribution  of  powers. 
The  two  West  Jersey  charters  (Burlington  and  Trenton) 
possess  independent  characteristics.  They  have  many  single 
features  in  common  with  the  Philadelphia  charters,  but  have 
also  many  distinctive  features,  each  peculiar  to  itself.  The 
charter  of  Trenton  after  being  in  operation  for  three  years 
and  three  months  was  surrendered  (April  9,  1750)  and  the 
town  form  of  government  resumed. 

These  constitute  the  entire  number  of  municipal  charters 
granted  during  the  colonial  period.  It  will  be  noticed  that 
with  the  omission  of  the  paper  boroughs,  all  of  the  corpora- 
tions were  established  in  the  five  central  colonies.  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Virginia.  More- 
over, most  of  the  boroughs  were  within  the  limits  of  a  com- 
paratively small  section.  Nine  of  the  fourteen  active  boroughs 
lay  in  the  stretch  of  country  from  Westchester,  N.Y., 
across  New  Jersey  to  Chester,  Penn.  —  a  distance  of  one  hun- 
dred miles.  Albany,  N.Y.,  and  Lancaster,  Penn.,  were 
not  very  far  from  the  extremities  of  this  area,  leaving 
only  Williamsburg,  Richmond,  and  Norfolk,  in  Virginia,  and 
Annapolis,  in  Maryland,  as  distinctly  detached  instances. 
This  concentration  of  boroughs  within  this  limited  area  was 
perhaps  due  to  the  influence  of  neighborhood  example.  It 
is  also  significant  that  most  of  the  boroughs  were  in  those 
colonies  where  the  influence  of  the  governors  and  the  English 
home  government  was  strongest;  while  Winthrop's  com- 
ment on  the  incorporation  of  Agamenticus,  the  suppression 
of  the  Maine  charters  by  Massachusetts,  and  the  absence 
of  incorporations  in  the  New  England  colonies,  indicate 
a  settled  opposition  there  to  the  borough  system.  The  town 
meeting  system  gave  a  greater  degree  of  local  independence 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS  IN   THE   COLONIES  59 

than  any  form  of  charter  issued  during  the  colonial  period, 
and  so  long  as  no  town  had  grown  too  large  for  this  system 
there  was  no  special  reason  why  charters  of  incorporation 
should  be  sought  in  these  colonies. 

The  period  of  borough  formation  in  the  American  colonies 
was  during  the  sixty  years  from  the  incorporation  of  New 
York  (1686)  to  the  charter  of  Trenton,  NJ.  (1746).^  Why 
it  was  that  in  spite  of  the  continued  growth  of  the  country 
no  new  charters  were  issued  after  1746  is  not  altogether 
clear;  but,  as  the  charters  were  grants  from  the  governors 
and  not  from  the  legislature,  it  is  doubtless  the  case  that  the 
growing  opposition  in  the  colonies  to  the  mother  country 
and  to  the  representatives  of  the  English  government  had 
its  part  in  causing  the  movement  to  cease. 

The  advantages  of  incorporation  were,  however,  recognized; 
and  immediately  after  the  Revolution  there  appeared  a  con- 
siderable stream  of  municipal  charters.  Charleston,  S.C., 
was  incorporated  as  a  city  in  1783;  in  1784  Newport  was 
temporarily  incorporated  and  Connecticut  created  five  cities ;  2 
in  1786  New  Jersey  after  a  rest  of  forty  years  renewed  its 
activity  in  this  direction;  in  1787  Baltimore  was  incor- 
porated; and  before  the  end  of  the  century  there  were  two 
additional  corporations  in  New  York  State.^  By  1790  Boston 
alone  of  the  centres  of  population  remained  without  having 
adopted  this  method  of  government.*    These  new  charters 

*  The  two  Maine  boroughs,  chartered  in  1641  and  1647,  had  no  per- 
manent existence,  and  were  so  completely  unrelated  to  the  later  boroughs, 
that  they  must  be  considered  as  sporadic  cases  and  not  as  belonging  to 
any  definite  movement. 

^  New  Haven,  Hartford,  Middletown,  New  London,  and  Norwich. 
'  Hudson  and  Schenectady. 

*  Boston  retained  its  town  meeting  until  1822,  when  it  received  a 
city  charter  —  the  first  in  Massachusetts.  The  Massachusetts  towns 
were  in  some  respects  corporate  bodies  from  early  colonial  times  (cf. 
Hutchinson's  Hist.  Mass.  Bay,  pp.1,  175),  and  in  1694  they  were  expressly 
authorized  to  sue  and  be  sued.  In  1785  they  were  formally  incorporated. 
The  town  meeting  is,  however,  essentially  a  rural  organization,  not 
adapted  to  urban  conditions. 


60  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

were  issued  by  the  state  legislatures  instead  of  by  the  govern- 
ors, and  the  democratic  tendency  was  shown  in  the  absence 
of  any  close  corporations.  In  all  other  respects,  however, 
these  state  charters  were  based  closely  on  the  charters  and 
government  of  the  colonial  boroughs,  and  thus  form  the 
connecting  link  from  the  colonial  institutions  to  the  nine- 
teenth century  American  city. 

STATUS  OF  CITIZENS 

The  fundamental  character  of  the  borough  governments, 
as  of  all  government,  is  determined  by  the  relation  of  the 
people  to  the  governmental  organization.  This  subject  falls 
into  three  subdivisions.  The  existence  in  the  colonial 
boroughs,  as  in  the  English  boroughs,  of  a  class  of  freemen 
makes  necessary  some  discussion  of  their  special  privileges. 
Following  this,  the  questions  of  the  franchise,  and  the  nature 
of  election  methods,  are  considered. 

The  Freemen.  —  The  Dongan  charter  gave  to  the  mayor, 
recorder,  and  aldermen  of  New  York  the  privilege  of  making 
free  citizens  under  their  common  seal,  and  the  Montgomerie 
charter  reaffirmed  this  provision.  In  the  Philadelphia  char- 
ter, the  power  of  admitting  freemen  was  vested  in  the  whole 
governing  body.  The  other  borough  charters  had  similar 
provisions  for  bestowing  the  freedom  of  the  corporation  on 
residents.  As  a  condition  precedent  to  securing  the  freedom 
of  the  city  in  New  York,  persons  must  be  natural-born  sub- 
jects of  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  or  else  have  been  natural- 
ized by  act  of  the  assembly  or  by  letters  of  denization  from 
the  lieutenant-governor. 

The  Albany  and  Elizabeth  charters  contained  a  similar 
provision,  but  in  Philadelphia  any  free  denizen  of  the  prov- 
ince, twenty-one  years  of  age,  a  resident  of  the  city,  pos- 
sessing a  freehold  estate  therein,  or  a  resident  for  two  years 
having  personal  property  to  the  value  of  fifty  pounds,  could  be 
admitted.    Women  as  well  as  men  were  eligible  for  admission 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS  IN   THE   COLONIES  61 

to  the  freedom  of  the  city.  The  fee  which  could  be  charged 
for  admission  was  in  most  cases  limited  by  the  charter.  Thus 
in  New  York  and  Elizabeth,  N.J.,  the  maximum  fee  was  five 
pounds;  in  Albany  a  merchant  trader  could  be  required  to 
pay  three  pounds  twelve  shillings,  but  a  craftsman  only  half 
that  amount.  In  practice  the  Albany  council  fixed  the  fee 
for  natives  of  Albany  at  the  nominal  sum  of  two  shillings. 
In  Philadelphia,  there  was  no  legal  limitation  on  the  amount 
of  the  fee,  and  in  practice  it  varied  considerably.  The 
records  show  one  case  in  which  over  three  pounds  was  paid 
and  another  where  the  fee  was  but  a  little  over  one  pound. 

None  but  freemen  of  the  borough  could  practice  any  "art, 
trade,  mystery,  or  occupation"  within  the  borough,  except 
during  the  great  fairs.  In  Norfolk,  Va.,  the  freemen  had  an 
advantage  even  during  the  fairs,  as  they  were  exempt  from 
one-half  the  tolls  charged  at  such  times.  The  monopoly  of 
trade  must  have  been  a  privilege  of  some  importance  in  the 
early  days.  Albany  had  a  monopoly  of  all  trading  with 
the  Indians  to  the  north  and  west  of  the  city,  which  must 
have  been  an  important  advantage  to  the  freemen  of  that 
place.  New  York  had  a  monopoly  of  bolting  flour  from 
1684  to  the  passage,  in  Governor  Fletcher's  administration, 
of  the  Bolting  Act,  which  gave  liberty  to  any  one  in  the  prov- 
ince to  bolt  flour.  In  the  later  years  of  the  colonial  period 
these  special  privileges  of  freemen  were  of  but  slight  pecu- 
niary value,  and  they  do  not  seem  ever  to  have  had  the  im- 
portance which  they  had  in  England.  Perhaps  one  reason 
for  this  was  the  readiness  with  which  the  corporations  be- 
stowed the  freedom  on  those  who  were  actually  residents 
of  the  borough.  The  nominal  fee  which  the  Albany  council 
charged  indicates  their  willingness  to  extend  the  privilege 
as  far  as  possible.  The  New  York  corporation  admitted 
810  freemen  between  1683  and  1740.^  The  number  still 
living  in  1740  must  have  been  materially  less  than  810,  and 
as  the  population  of  New  York  at  this  time  was  approaching 

'  Memorial  History  of  New  York,  I,  204. 


62  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

12,000/  it  is  evident  that  here  at  least  all  the  householders 
were  not  freemen;  but  the  restriction  of  this  privilege  was 
nowhere  so  strict  or  subject  to  such  abuses  as  in  England. 

Except  in  those  boroughs  where  the  government  was  a  close 
corporation,  all  freemen  were  voters  at  the  municipal  elections, 
and  in  boroughs  which  chose  representatives  to  the  colonial 
legislature,  all  freemen  (except  in  Philadelphia)  were  like- 
wise electors  at  the  elections  for  members  of  the  legislature. 
But  these  privileges  were  not  usually  confined  to  freemen,  and 
can  thus  be  more  thoroughly  considered  in  the  next 
section. 

The  Suffrage.  —  Considering  the  methods  of  borough  gov- 
ernment in  England  two  centuries  ago,  it  is  a  matter  for 
surprise  that  so  few  of  the  boroughs  established  on  this  side 
of  the  Atlantic  were  made  close  corporations.  In  Philadelphia, 
Annapolis,  and  Norfolk,  the  borough  officials  were  chosen  by 
co5ptation;  that  is,  vacancies  in  the  governing  board  were 
filled  by  the  remaining  members.  But  in  all  the  other 
colonial  boroughs  there  was  a  participation  of  the  people  in 
the  choice  of  the  local  officers.  The  records  show  no  reason 
for  this  difference  in  the  charters  granted  to  English  boroughs 
and  those  granted  to  the  new  settlements  in  America,  and  it 
is  especially  difficult  to  understand  why  a  popular  election 
should  have  been  allowed  in  New  York  and  Albany  by  the 
Dongan  charters,  when  it  is  remembered  that  these  charters 
were  issued  just  after  the  attack  on  the  London  charter  in 
.1683,  and  after  Jeffrey's  circuit  of  England  in  which  he  made 
the  borough  charters  "fall  down  like  the  walls  of  Jericho." 
Of  course  the  American  boroughs  had  no  representation  in 
the  English  Parliament,  and  the  interest  of  the  Crown  to 
control  Parliament  was  not  brought  into  play.  The  lack  of 
this  inducement  may  have  been  sufficient  to  cause  the  differ- 
ent policy  in  the  American  borough  charters. 

Except  in  the  close  corporations,  the  municipal  suffrage 
extended  to  all  the  freemen  and  also  to  freeholders.    The 

*  Population  1737,  10,664,  Documentary  History  of  New  York,  I,  370. 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS   IN  THE   COLONIES  63 

Dongan  charter  to  New  York  had  stated,  rather  vaguely, 
that  the  aldermen,  assistants,  and  constables  should  be 
chosen  by  the  "majority  of  voices  of  the  inhabitants  of  each 
ward";  but  in  the  Montgomerie  charter,  the  suffrage  was 
more  clearly  defined  as  belonging  to  "the  freemen  of  the  city, 
being  inhabitants  and  freeholders  of  each  respective  ward." 
In  1771,  the  assembly  of  the  province  passed  an  act  con- 
ferring the  franchise  on  £40  freeholders  as  well  as  on  the 
freemen.^  The  freeholder  must  have  been  in  possession  of 
his  freehold  for  at  least  one  month  before  election  day;  and 
the  freemen  must  have  held  their  freedom  for  at  least  three 
months,  and  have  actually  resided  in  the  ward  one  month 
before  election  day.  This  same  statute  laid  down  the  prin- 
ciple of  "one  man,  one  vote"  for  New  York  municipal  elec- 
tions. Before  its  passage,  freeholders  owning  property  on 
the  East  side  of  Broadway  which  lay  partly  in  the  West 
ward  and  partly  in  the  North  ward  had  been  accustomed 
to  vote  in  both  wards.  Under  the  act  of  1771  they  could 
vote  only  in  the  West  ward. 

The  Albany  charter  of  1686  was  as  vague  as  the  New  York 
charter  of  the  same  year,  in  defining  the  qualifications  for 
municipal  elections,  and  they  do  not  seem  to  have  been 
clearly  defined  until  1773.  In  that  year  as  a  result  of  a  con- 
tested aldermanic  election,  the  common  council  adopted 
certain  principles,^  founded,  it  was  said,  on  existing  customs. 
These  regulations  show  the  existence  of  a  very  extended 
suffrage.  The  general  rule  was  that  "every  person  of  the 
age  of  twenty-one  years,  born  under  the  British  Dominions 
and  who  has  resided  above  six  weeks  in  the  city  of  Albany, 
has  a  right  to  vote  in  the  ward  where  he  resides."  In  the 
following  year  an  ordinance  was  passed  regulating  elections, 
which  provided  that  not  only  natural-born  subjects  of  the 
Crown  of  Great  Britain,  but  also  subjects  by  an  act  of  deni- 
zation who  had  resided  in  the  city  at  least  forty  days  and 

*  Colonial  Laws  of  New  York,  ch.  1492. 

*  J.  Munsell,  Collections  on  the  History  of  Albany,  I,  254, 


64  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

had  obtained  the  freedom  of  the  city  were  entitled  to  vote,* 
and  that  all  freeholders  had  a  vote.  No  person  under  twenty- 
one  years  of  age,  no  alien,  no  servant  or  apprentice  during 
the  time  of  servitude,  and  no  prisoner  or  debtor  in  jail  could 
have  a  legal  vote ;  the  votes  of  persons  who  were  influenced  by 
bribes  were  declared  null  and  void.  The  readiness  of  the 
Albany  council  to  admit  freemen,  and  the  admission  of  all  free- 
holders without  regard  to  the  value  of  their  property,  must  have 
made  a  more  popular  electorate  in  Albany  than  in  New  York. 

The  charters  of  the  New  Jersey  boroughs  provide  that  the 
"freeholders  and  freemen"  should  elect  the  aldermen  and 
councilmen,  while  the  two  West  Jersey  charters  also  make 
special  mention  of  householders  as  electors.^  Lancaster  is 
the  only  one  of  the  Pennsylvania  boroughs  whose  charter 
clearly  expressed  the  qualifications  of  an  elector.  The  suf- 
frage was  by  it  conferred  on  inhabitants,  householders  within 
the  borough,  who  had  resided  there  for  a  year  preceding  the 
date  of  the  election,  and  who  had  hired  a  house  and  ground 
of  the  yearly  value  of  five  pounds  sterling.^ 

From  the  variety  in  the  suffrage  qualifications  shown  by 
these  special  cases,  it  is  evident  that  no  definite  statement 
can  be  made  giving  a  universal  rule  for  the  franchise  in  the 
colonial  boroughs.  In  general,  it  may  be  said  that  most  of 
the  boroughs  had  popular  elections,  that  the  electorate  in- 
cluded a  large  proportion  of  the  residents,  and  everywhere 
all  of  the  well-to-do  classes,  but  that  universal  manhood 
suffrage  was  as  yet  non-existent. 

The  close  corporations  continued  until  the  Revolution. 
The  government  under  the  Philadelphia  charter  ceased  on. 
the  capture  of  the  city  by  the  British,  and  it  was  not  until 
1789  that  a  new  charter  was  granted  by  the  state  legislature, 
and  this  provided  for  a  popular  election  of  the  municipal 

*  Munsell,  Collections  on  Albany,  I,  266. 

'A.  Scott  in  N.J.  Hist.  Soc.  Proc,  2d  series,  IX,  158,  Charter  of 
Elizabeth,  in  N.  Murray,  Notes  on  Elizabeth. 

'  C.  F.  Bishop,  History  of  Elections  in  the  American  Colonies,  p.  225. 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS   IN   THE   COLONIES  65 

officers.  The  Norfolk  corporation  continued  as  a  self-elected 
body  until  in  1787  the  Virginia  legislature  passed  an  act  * 
providing  for  the  election  of  the  borough  officers  by  the  free- 
holders and  inhabitants  of  the  borough  qualified  to  vote  for 
burgesses  to  the  assembly.  The  preamble  to  this  act  sets 
forth  that  "the  former  method  of  electing  common  council- 
men  for  the  borough  of  Norfolk  as  fixed  by  the  charter  is 
judged  impolitic  and  unconstitutional." 

The  privilege  of  special  representation  of  the  boroughs  in 
the  colonial  legislatures  was  strictly  analogous  to  the  rep- 
resentation of  the  English  boroughs  in  Parliament.  Phil- 
adelphia, Annapolis,  Williamsburg,  Norfolk,  Burlington, 
Perth  Amboy,  and  Elizabeth  had  such  special  representation  ; 
but  the  other  boroughs  were  represented  only  as  they  formed 
a  part  of  the  county  or  other  electoral  districts.  The  suf- 
frage for  the  election  of  representatives  to  the  assemblies  had, 
however,  none  of  the  abuses  of  the  borough  franchise  in 
England.  Those  boroughs  which  had  a  popular  election 
for  local  officers  had  practically  the  same  suffrage  for  the 
general  colonial  elections.  Even  in  the  close  corporations, 
the  suffrage  for  the  election  of  representatives  was  on  a 
popular  basis.  In  Philadelphia,  the  citizens  of  the  town 
voted  both  for  representatives  of  the  city  and  for  the  county 
members  to  the  provincial  assembly.^  In  Annapolis,  the 
corporation,  and  all  persons  inhabiting  the  city  having  an 
estate  of  £20  sterling,  were  entitled  to  vote  at  the  election 
of  two  delegates  to  the  colonial  assembly.'  The  Norfolk 
representative  in  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses  was  elected 
by  the  members  of  the  corporation,  all  the  freeholders  of  the 
borough  owning  half  a  lot  of  land  with  a  house,  all  residents 
with  a  visible  estate  worth  £50,  and  all  residents  having 
served  five  years  to  any  trade  within  the  borough.* 

»  Ch.  72.    Hening,  Statutes  of  Virginia,  XII,  609. 

*  Allinson  and  Penrose,  Philadelphia,  p.  47. 

»  "  Charter,"  in  E.  S.  Riley,  The  Ancient  City. 

*  "  Charter,"  in  Edward  Ingle,  Virginia  Local  Institutions,  Johns  Hop- 
kins University  Studies,  III. 


66  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

Elections.  —  The  annual  municipal  elections  in  New  York 
and  Albany  were  fixed  by  the  charter  to  occur  on  the  feast 
of  St.  Michael  the  Archangel,  September  29.  Each  ward 
constituted  an  election  district,  the  aldermen  acted  as  election 
officers,  and  a  plurality  of  votes  elected.  Voting  seems  to 
have  been  viva  voce,  and  there  is  one  instance  recorded  of 
voting  by  proxy.  At  the  New  York  City  election  in  1689, 
Captain  Leysler  appeared  at  the  polls,  and  on  the  vote 
for  alderman,  said:  "I  vote  for  my  son  Walters,  my  son 
Jacob  votes  for  his  brother  Walters,  and  my  son  Wal- 
ters votes  for  himself;  that's  three,  put  them  down."  ^ 
This  voting  by  proxy  seems,  however,  to  have  been  an 
irregular  proceeding,  not  sanctioned  by  the  customs  of  the 
times. 

The  records  of  the  Albany  Council  mention  a  special  elec- 
tion in  1706,  at  which  the  polls  were  to  be  open  at  3  p.m.; 
and  a  year  later,  at  another  special  election,  they  were  to  be 
open  from  one  o'clock  until  sunset.^  From  the  evidence 
submitted  at  the  trial  of  a  contested  election  case  in  1773, 
we  learn  that  by  that  time  the  polls  were  open  from  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning  until  between  four  and  five  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,'  and  the  council  held  that  the  returning  officers 
could  not  be  compelled  to  record  a  vote  after  the  closing  of 
the  polls  at  five  o'clock.  The  testimony  of  several  witnesses 
showed  the  prevalence  of  bribery  at  this  election.  From 
five  to  ten  pounds  was  said  to  have  been  the  usual  price  for 
a  vote,  but  in  two  cases  it  appeared  that  forty  pounds  were 
paid.*  An  interesting  detail  of  Albany  elections  at  variance 
with  the  present  American  custom  is  shown  by  a  resolution 
of  the  common  council  in  1740.  This  declared  that  persons 
whose  trade  or  occupation  was  in  one  ward,  and  their  residence 

*  "  A  Modest  axid  Impartial  Narrative  of  Grievances,"  in  Documents 
relating  to  the  Colonial  History  of  New  York,  III,  674. 

*  "  City  Records,"  in  J.  Munsell,  Annals  of  Albany,  V,  143,  176. 

*  C.  F.  Bishop,  Colonial  Elections,  p.  233. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  234. 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS   IN   THE   COLONIES  67 

in  another,  should  vote  and  be  eligible  for  election  from  the 
ward  where  their  trade  or  occupation  was  located.^ 

The  New  York  statute  of  1771,^  already  referred  to  as 
regulating  the  suffrage,  also  laid  down  certain  rules  for  the 
conduct  of  the  municipal  elections  in  New  York  City.  The 
corporation  was  authorized  to  appoint  returning  officers  for 
each  ward,  and  to  fix  the  polling  places.  Every  elector  was 
required  to  declare  publicly  whether  he  voted  by  virtue  of 
his  freedom  or  his  freehold. 

The  statutes  contain  no  specific  provisions  concerning  the 
manner  of  conducting  elections  in  the  other  boroughs.  The 
charter  usually  named  the  day  on  which  officers  should  be 
chosen,  but  otherwise  the  election  machinery  was  fixed  by 
each  corporation  for  itself. 

ORGANIZATION 

The  grant  of  a  borough  charter  in  all  cases  provided  for  the 
creation  of  a  governing  body,  which  should  have  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  a  corporation.  The  rights  inhering  in  all 
corporations  were  in  most  of  the  charters  specifically  men- 
tioned. These  were:  (1)  perpetual  succession;  (2)  to  be 
persons  in  law  capable  of  receiving,  holding,  and  disposing 
of  lands,  rents,  chattels,  etc. ;  (3)  to  be  qualified  to  sue  and 
to  be  subject  to  suit  in  the  courts,  and  (4)  to  have  a  common 
seal.  The  grant  of  these  corporate  powers  was  of  course 
the  regular  provision  of  the  English  charters,  and  was  neces- 
sary to  give  the  government  a  legal  status. 

The  regular  form  of  organization  provided  for  the  colonial, 
as  for  the  English,  boroughs,  was  that  of  a  mayor,  a  recorder, 
a  small  number  of  aldermen,  and  an  equal  or  larger  number 
of  councilmen  or  assistants;  and  the  official  title  of  the  cor- 
poration was  generally,  "The  Mayor,  Alderman,  and  Com- 
monalty of  ."    The  four  small  Pennsylvania  boroughs 

had  a  different  and  simpler  organization :  there  were  in  each, 

*  "City  Records,"  November,  1740,  in  J.  Munsell,  Annals  of  Albany,  X, 
93. 

'  Colonial  Laws  of  New  York,  ch.  1492. 


68  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

two  burgesses  (one  of  whom  was  called  the  chief  burgess), 
and  from  four  to  six  assistants.  The  borough  officers  of  Tren- 
ton, during  the  three  years  of  the  existence  of  the  corporation, 
were  a  chief  burgess,  a  recorder,  and  several  burgesses.^ 

The  Mayor.  —  In  the  small  boroughs  the  chief  burgess  was 
chosen  by  popular  vote,  but  in  no  case  was  a  mayor  regularly 
selected  in  this  way.  In  the  close  corporations  he  was  elected 
from  the  existing  aldermen  by  the  corporation;  and  in  Eliza- 
beth he  was  chosen  by  the  mayor,  aldermen,  and  common 
councilmen.  In  the  other  boroughs  where  the  aldermen 
and  councilmen  were  elected  by  the  inhabitants,  the  mayor 
was  regularly  appointed  by  the  governor  of  the  province. 
During  the  Leysler  troubles  in  the  province  of  New  York, 
mayors  were  elected  in  the  city  of  New  York  (in  1688  and 
1689)  and  in  the  city  of  Albany  (in  1689);  but  the  former 
method  of  appointment  was  restored  in  1690.  In  New  York 
and  Albany  a  former  alderman  was  frequently  appointed. 

The  term  of  office  of  the  mayor  was  in  all  the  boroughs  one 
year; '  but  in  practice  reappointments  were  frequent.  The 
later  mayors  of  New  York  and  Albany  generally  held  the 
position  continuously  for  ten  years.  The  mayor  presided  at 
all  meetings  of  the  aldermen  and  of  the  common  council,  no 
meeting  being  legal  without  his  presence.  But  he  had  no 
veto  power  over  the  acts  of  the  council,  and  in  Philadelphia 
he  did  not  even  have  a  vote  in  the  council.^  He  also  had 
charge  of  the  execution  of  the  laws  and  ordinances  of  the 
council.  The  Elizabeth  charter  provides  that  the  mayor 
shall  have  charge  of  the  borough  "  in  as  full  and  ample  manner 
as  is  usual  and  customary  for  other  mayors  to  have  in  like 
corporations  in  our  realm  of  England."  * 

»  A.  Scott,  in  N.  J.  Hist.  Soc.  Proc,  IX,  154. 

'  Howe,  Collections  on  Virginia  (p.  394),  states  that  Samuel  Boush 
was  chosen  mayor  of  Norfolk  "until  a  vacancy  occurred  by  his  death 
or  resignation";  but  the  charter  of  Norfolk  provided  for  an  annual 
election  on  St.  John  the  Baptist's  Day. 

'  Allinson  and  Penrose,  Philadelphia,  p.  11. 

*  "  Charter,"  in  Murray,  Notes  on  Elizabeth,  p.  36. 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS  IN   THE   COLONIES  69 

In  New  York  and  Albany  the  mayor,  by  the  charters,  had 
full  control  over  the  licensing  of  tavern  keepers,  and  sellers 
of  wine,  cider,  etc.  A  law  of  the  New  York  provincial  as- 
sembly, passed  in  1713,*  named  the  mayor  and  aldermen 
conjointly  as  the  licensing  authority.  Previous  action  had 
asserted  the  power  of  the  legislature  to  supplement  the 
charters;  but  this  statute,  in  direct  violation  of  the  charters, 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  enforced.  The  Montgomerie 
charter  of  New  York  reasserted  the  authority  of  the  mayor 
as  the  grantor  of  licenses.  In  Albany  the  non-compliance 
with  the  statute  is  shown  distinctly  by  the  records  of  a  long 
and  interesting  dispute  between  an  ex-mayor  and  the  council 
over  the  question  whether  the  license  fees  were  a  perquisite 
of  the  mayor's  office  or  should  go  to  the  city  treasury.  As 
the  ex-mayor  had  possession  of  the  funds,  the  council  in  the 
end  agreed  to  compromise  the  matter  by  a  payment  into  the 
city  treasury  of  about  one-third  the  amount  of  the  fees.'' 

The  mayor  frequently  held,  ex-offido,  minor  offices  in  the 
boroughs.  In  New  York  and  Albany  he  was  clerk  of  the 
market ;  in  Albany  he  was  also  to  act  as  coroner,  and  in  New 
York  as  water  bailiff.  In  Philadelphia  he  acted  as  treasurer 
and  as  inspector  of  bread  bakeries.'  While  the  mayor  had 
no  power  of  appointment,  these  combinations  of  several 
offices  in  his  own  person  served  to  centre  the  administration 
to  a  considerable  degree  in  his  hands.  His  influence  in  the 
management  of  municipal  matters  was  further  increased  by 
the  fact  that  he  was  usually  a  man  of  considerable  experience 
in  the  affairs  of  the  corporation  and  that  in  practice  he  held 
office  a  considerable  number  of  years. 

The  Recorder  was  the  member  of  the  borough  government 
supposed  to  know  most  about  legal  matters.  But  only  in 
Norfolk  was  he  required  to  be  a  person  "learned  in  law"; 

»  Colonial  Laws  of  New  York,  ch.  263,  Oct.  23,  1713. 
'  City  Records,  in  J.  Munsell,  Collections  on  Albany,  I,  142  ff. 
*  "  Wharton  School  of  Political  Science,"  City  Government  of  Philadeln 
phia,  p.  17. 


70  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

and  there  he  was  allowed  to  appoint  a  deputy,  for  whom  the 
qualification  does  not  seem  to  have  been  necessary.  In 
fact,  during  the  colonial  period,  the  recorder  of  Norfolk  was 
invariably  a  non-resident.  The  Albany  charter  required 
the  recorder  (and  also  the  town  clerk)  "  to  be  a  person  of  good 
capacity  and  understanding,"  a  qualification  not  demanded 
in  the  case  of  mayor,  aldermen,  or  assistants. 

The  recorder  was  chosen  in  the  same  way  as  the  mayor; 
in  the  close  corporations  by  the  corporation,  and  in  the 
other  boroughs  by  appointment  of  the  governors.*  In 
Trenton,  however,  he  was  chosen  by  the  common  council.* 
The  presence  of  the  recorder  was  required  to  make  a  quorum 
of  the  borough  court.  His  distinctive  functions  in  colonial 
times  are  nowhere  clearly  indicated.  Probably  his  main 
duties  were  drafting  of  papers  in  legal  form  and  advising  the 
mayor  and  aldermen  in  the  discharge  of  their  judicial  functions. 

The  Aldermen.  —  The  number  of  aldermen  was  every- 
where quite  small.  In  New  York  there  were  at  first  but  five, 
but  after  1679  there  were  six,  and  the  Montgomerie  charter 
(1730)  increased  this  to  seven.  Philadelphia  had  six  alder- 
men under  the  charter  of  1691,  but  the  charter  of  1701  pro- 
vided for  eight  aldermen.  Albany,  Annapolis,  and  Williams- 
burg had  each  six  aldermen;  Norfolk  had  eight;  while 
strangely  enough  the  largest  number  was  provided  for  the 
ephemeral  borough  of  Agamenticus,  which,  when  created 
a  city,  was  empowered  to  elect  twelve  aldermen.' 

In  the  close  corporations  the  aldermen  were  chosen  by  the 
corporation,  and  in  Norfolk  only  councilmen  were  eligible. 
In  Perth  Amboy  they  were  chosen  by  the  common  council, 
as  were  the  burgesses  in  Trenton.  In  the  other  boroughs 
they  were  elected  by  popular  vote  under  the  same  franchise 
as  for  the  election  of  common  councilmen.     New  York  and 

*  This  was  the  case  also  in  Elizabeth,  where,  as  has  been  seen,  the  mayor 
was  chosen  by  the  common  council. 

»A.  Scott,  N.  J.  Hist.  Soc.  Proc,  IX,  155. 

•  "Charter,"  in  Hazard,  Historical  Collections,  p.  470. 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS   IN   THE   COLONIES  71 

Albany  alone  seem  to  have  elected  by  districts;  in  the  former, 
there  was  one  alderman  for  each  ward,  and  in  the  latter, 
two  aldermen  for  each  of  the  three  wards.  In  the  close 
corporations,  and  also  in  Trenton,  the  term  of  office  for  alder- 
men was  for  life;  elsewhere,  except  in  Elizabeth,  a  one-year 
tenm"e  prevailed;  in  Elizabeth,  N.J.,  the  term  was  three 
years. 

The  aldermen  in  conjunction  with  the  mayor,  recorder,  and 
assistants  or  councilmen  formed  the  common  council,  which 
sat  as  one  body.  Aldermen,  however,  had  additional  powers, 
as  justices  of  the  peace,  members  of  the  borough  court,  and 
in  some  cases  members  of  the  county  court.  In  Philadelphia, 
the  mayor  and  aldermen  had  most  of  the  appointing  power; 
and  in  Norfolk  after  1752  they  were  the  licensing  authority 
for  the  borough.* 

The  Councilmen.  —  The  number  of  councilmen  was  gener- 
ally larger  than  the  number  of  aldermen,  but  New  York  and 
Albany  had  the  same  number  of  each  class.  Annapolis  had 
ten  councilmen,  Philadelphia  had  twelve;  while  Williams- 
burg, Norfolk,  and  Agamenticus,  in  accordance  with  the  old 
English  custom,  had  twice  the  number  of  aldermen  in  the 
second  class,  giving  them  respectively  twelve,  sixteen,  and 
twenty-four  councilmen. 

The  councilmen  were  chosen  in  the  close  corporations,  not 
by  the  whole  corporation,  but  by  the  mayor,  recorder,  and 
aldermen,  who  were  limited  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  borough. 
The  Norfolk  charter  required  councilmen  to  be  freeholders; 
but  a  statute  of  the  Virginia  assembly  passed  in  1752  declared 
twelve  months'  residence  a  sufficient  qualification.^  Except 
in  the  close  corporations,  the  councilmen,  or  assistants,  were 
chosen  by  popular  election  under  the  franchise  already 
described.  The  tenure  was,  as  for  aldermen,  generally  a 
single  year;  but  in  Elizabeth  three  years,  and  in  Trenton 
and  also  in  the  close  corporations  for  life.    The  Philadelphia 

*  Hening,  Statutes  of  Virginia,  VI,  263. 
« Ibid. 


72  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

charter  of  1691  had  provided  for  annual  election  of  council- 
men,  but  life  tenure  was  introduced  by  the  charter  of  1701. 
In  Perth  Amboy  the  assistants  were  not  chosen  until  it  was 
known  who  were  to  be  the  aldermen  for  the  next  year/  thus 
making  it  possible  for  defeated  candidates  for  aldermen  to  be 
afterward  elected  as  councilmen. 

In  none  of  the  colonial  boroughs  were  the  councilmen  a 
distinct  body.  They  were  members  of  the  common  council, 
as  were  also  the  mayor,  recorder,  and  aldermen;  but  the 
councilmen  alone  could  not  form  a  meeting  of  the  common 
council  —  the  presence  of  a  certain  number  of  aldermen  with 
the  mayor  was  necessary  for  a  quorum.  The  special  functions 
and  title  of  the  aldermen  made  the  separation  of  the  govern- 
ing authorities  into  two  bodies  an  easy  transition,  but  through- 
out the  colonial  period  there  was  no  bicameral  system  in 
municipal  government. 

Other  Charter  Officials.  —  Besides  the  members  of  the  cor- 
porations, the  charters  of  the  various  colonial  boroughs 
provided  for  a  few  of  the  more  important  administrative 
officers.  There  was  always  a  town  clerk,  usually  appointed 
by  royal  commission  through  the  governors  of  the  provinces. 
The  Elizabeth  charter,  however,  in  this  as  in  other  respects, 
gave  larger  powers  to  the  residents  of  the  borough,  who 
chose  their  own  town  clerk.  The  tenure  of  office  for  the  town 
clerk  was  not  determined  by  the  charters,  and  the  position 
seems  to  have  been  generally  regarded  as  a  permanent  post. 
The  Albany  charter  required  the  lieutenant-governor  to 
appoint  a  person  of  "good  capacity  and  understanding," 
the  only  instance  in  which  any  qualifications  are  laid  down 
for  the  office.  The  town  clerk  kept  the  official  records  of 
the  corporation,  and  also  acted  as  clerk  of  the  borough  court. 
In  Burlington,  N.J.,  the  county  clerk  of  the  peace  was  au- 
thorized to  act  as  clerk  for  the  city.^ 

Another  official  whom  all  of  the  boroughs  must  have  found 

»  W.  A.  Whitehead,  Early  History  of  Perth  Amboy  (1856),  p.  52. 
»  A.  Scott,  in  N.  J.  Hist.  Soc.  Proc,  IX,  155. 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS  IN  THE   COLONIES  73 

necessary,  but  who  is  mentioned  in  but  three  of  the  charters, 
is  the  treasurer,  or  chamberlain,  as  he  is  sometimes  styled. 
In  New  York  and  Albany,  this  officer  was  chosen  annually 
by  the  common  council ;  and  in  Philadelphia  the  mayor  per- 
formed the  duties  of  the  office.  Elsewhere  the  office  was 
left  to  be  created  and  regulated  by  each  corporation  for  itself. 

A  few  of  the  more  important  boroughs  in  England  had 
been  constituted  as  counties  with  a  separate  sheriff,  and  thus 
entirely  separated  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  sheriff  of  the 
shire  in  which  they  were  geographically  located.  In  this 
country,  New  York  and  Albany  were  the  only  boroughs 
which  had  this  distinctive  feature.  The  Philadelphia  charter 
provided  that  the  sheriff  of  the  county  should  act  as  sheriff 
of  the  city,  but  elsewhere  there  is  no  mention  of  the  office. 

Fines  for  Refusal  to  accept  Office.  —  An  interesting  feature  in 
some  of  the  borough  charters  is  the  imposition  of  penalties 
for  refusal  to  accept  office.  Such  fines  were  authorized  by 
the  charters  of  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Albany,  Burlington, 
and  Trenton,  and  for  some  offices  by  the  charters  of  the  East 
Jersey  boroughs.^  The  amount  of  the  fines  varied  consider- 
ably; the  highest  authorized  was  in  the  Albany  charter  for 
refusing  to  accept  the  position  of  mayor,  in  which  case  a  fine 
of  twenty  pounds  could  be  imposed.  Five  and  ten  pounds 
were  the  most  usual  sums,  and  in  Philadelphia  a  refusal  to 
act  as  councilman  could  be  met  with  a  fine  of  not  over  four 
pounds. 

In  Philadelphia  fines  were  often  paid  in  preference  to  serv- 
ing.^ The  Albany  city  records  show  but  one  case  in  that 
borough,  when  in  1703  Abram  Cuyler  was  fined  five  pounds 
for  refusing  to  serve  as  assistant.  The  following  day,  on 
petition  of  Mr.  Cuyler,  the  fine  was  reduced  to  three  pounds, 
and  this  he  agreed  to  pay.' 

*  Overseers  of  the  Poor  and  Constables.  See  A.  Scott,  in  N.J.  Hist. 
Soc.  Ptoc,  IX,  158;  W.  A.  Whitehead,  Early  History  of  Perth  Amboy,  p.  52. 

*"  Wharton  School  of  Political  Science,"  City  Government  of  Philadel- 
phia, p.  17. 

'  City  Records,  in  J.  Munsell,  Annals  of  Albany,  IV,  244. 


74  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

Wards.  —  The  division  of  some  of  the  boroughs  into  wards 
for  election  and  administrative  purposes  was,  like  other 
features  of  the  charters,  a  transfer  of  En^ish  methods. 
New  York  and  Albany  were  divided  into  wards  by  their 
first  charters,  the  former  into  seven  wards,  the  latter  into 
three.  Philadelphia  was  not  marked  off  into  wards  until 
1704.^  The  second  charter  of  Perth  Amboy  (1753)  ap- 
parently divided  Perth  from  South  Amboy,  thus  making 
two  wards  in  the  city;  and  the  second  charter  of  New  Bruns- 
wick divided  that  city  into  two  wards.'  The  Elizabeth 
charter  does  not  establish  any  ward  lines  directly,  but  au- 
thorizes the  mayor,  aldermen,  and  common  council  to  divide 
the  borough  into  wards.^ 

In  view  of  the  more  or  less  frequency  with  which  ward  lines 
are  changed  in  modern  American  cities,  it  is  worth  noticing 
that  the  lines  established  by  the  New  York  and  Albany  char- 
ters remained  unchanged  throughout  the  colonial  period, 
although  during  the  ninety  years  from  the  charters  to  the 
Revolution  the  population  of  New  York  had  increased  from 
less  than  4000  to  over  20,000  and  Albany  had  grown  from 
little  more  than  a  hamlet  to  a  town  of  3500  inhabitants. 

Tovm  Meetings.  —  No  discussion  of  the  governmental 
organization  of  the  New  Jersey  boroughs  would  be  complete 
without  taking  note  of  the  continued  existence  alongside  the 
borough  government  of  the  town  meeting.  The  town  system 
had  been  transplanted  from  New  England  to  New  Jersey, 
and  had  taken  root  before  the  creation  of  the  boroughs; 
and  in  fact  all  of  the  New  Jersey  boroughs  had  boundaries 
coterminous  with  those  of  the  townships.*  In  Elizabeth, 
the  town  meeting  continued  to  act  after  the  creation  of  the 
borough  as  if  there  were  no  organized  government.  The 
entries  in  the  Town  Book  from  1720  to  1788  show  that  the 

*  AUinson  and  Penrose,  Philadelphia,  37. 

»  A.  Scott,  in  N.  J.  Hist.  Soc.  Proc,  IX,  170. 

•  See  "  Charter,"  in  Murray,  Notes,  p.  43. 

«  A.  Scott,  in  A^.  J.  Hist.  Soc.  Proc,  IX,  169. 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS   IN  THE   COLONIES  75 

town  meeting  voted  the  levy  of  taxes,  and  town  officers 
collected  them.'  The  Burlington  Town  Book  records  town 
meetings  from  1693  through  the  next  century.  The  city 
charter  itself  was  the  work  of  the  town  meeting,  and  after 
the  new  government  went  into  operation  the  town  meetings, 
even  the  annual  March  meeting  for  the  election  of  officers, 
were  held.  The  town  meeting  appears  to  have  confined  its 
jurisdiction  in  most  cases  to  the  original  town  property  and 
to  the  voting  of  taxes;  while  the  city  officers  fulfilled  the 
special  functions  and  powers  conferred  by  the  charter.* 
Even  in  New  Brunswick,  where  the  town  organization  was 
but  six  years  old  when  the  charter  was  issued,  the  town 
meeting  was  not  wholly  supplanted;  and  as  late  as  1793  the 
city  authorities  passed  an  ordinance  providing  for  the  assess- 
ment and  collection  of  a  tax  levied  at  a  town  meeting  pre- 
viously held.' 

In  the  charters  of  the  small  Pennsylvania  boroughs,  there 
were  provisions  for  assembling  town  meetings  for  the  passage 
of  by-laws  and  ordinances.  If,  however,  we  may  judge  from 
the  example  of  Bristol,  the  town  meeting  was  usually  nothing 
but  the  meeting  of  the  town  council  and  borough  officers. 
Popular  assemblies  were  called  only  occasionally  when  an 
important  tax  was  to  be  laid  or  a  charter  amended.* 

JUDICIAL  AND  LEGISLATIVE   FUNCTIONS 

Judicial.  —  The  colonial  borough  like  its  English  proto- 
type was  more  of  a  judicial  than  an  administrative  organiza- 
tion. Those  functions  of  municipal  government  which  are 
preeminent  to-day  —  the  construction  and  management  of 
public  works,  and  the  control  and  direction  of  large  forces 
of  administrative  employees  —  had  not  yet  developed  to 
any  large  extent;  and  one  finds  that  in  the  borough  govern- 
ment the  judicial  functions  were  the  prominent  features. 

'  A  Scott,  in  N.  J.  Hist.  Soc.  Proc,  IX,  166.        '  Ibid.,  pp.  168,  170. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  167.      *  W.  P.  Holcomb,  Pennsylvania  Boroughs,  p.  36. 


76  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

The  judicial  powers  of  the  boroughs  were  vested  in  the 
mayor,  recorder,  and  aldermen.  Each  of  these,  in  the  first 
place,  was  during  the  term  of  his  office  a  justice  of  the  peace; 
and  as  such  had  jurisdiction  over  petty  civil  suits  (not  in- 
volving over  forty  shillings),  and  could  hear  and  commit 
persons  charged  with  criminal  offences.  In  addition  to  this, 
the  mayor,  recorder,  and  aldermen  of  each  borough,  sitting 
together,  formed  a  local  court  which  held  stated  sessions  for 
the  trial  of  civil  and  criminal  cases.  These  courts  went 
under  different  names,  and  their  jurisdiction  was  not  in  all 
cases  coextensive,  but  in  general  they  resembled  each  other. 

The  mayor's  court  of  New  York  met  once  a  fortnight  before 
the  charter  of  1730 ;  ^  after  that  on  Tuesday  of  each  week. 
The  Albany  court  met  once  a  fortnight.  The  Williamsburg 
and  Norfolk  courts  of  Hustings  ^  and  the  Amboy  city  court ' 
held  a  term  once  a  month.  The  Elizabeth  court  of  record 
held  four  sessions  a  year,  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  March, 
June,  September,  and  December.  In  all  cases  the  presence 
of  the  mayor,  recorder,  and  a  specified  number  (usually  about 
one-half)  of  the  aldermen  was  necessary  to  a  quorum. 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  New  York  and  Albany  courts  in- 
cluded all  civil  causes,  real,  personal,  or  mixed;  and  their  de- 
cision was  final  in  all  cases  involving  not  over  twenty  pounds. 
The  New  York  court  could  also  try  cases  of  petty  larceny, 
riots,  trespass,  and  such  like.  The  Philadelphia  court  had  full 
jurisdiction  over  all  felonies  and  misdemeanors,  and  also 
had  authority  to  cause  the  removal  of  nuisances  and  en- 
croachments on  the  streets.*  The  Williamsburg  and  Nor- 
folk courts  of  Hustings  had  jurisdiction  over  all  actions 
personal  and  mixed,  involving  not  over  twenty  pounds. 
This  limitation  was,  however,  removed  from  the  Williamsburg 

•  "  Dongan's  Report  to  the  Committee  of  Trade"  (1687),  in  Documen- 
tary History  of  New  York,  I,  96. 

»  "  Norfolk  Charter,"  Hening's  Statutes  of  Virginia,  IV,  130. 

•  W.  A.  Whitehead,  Early  History  of  Perth  Amboy,  p.  52. 

•  Allinson  and  Penrose,  Philadelphia,  pp.  14,  49. 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS  IN   THE   COLONIES  77 

court  in  1736/  and  from  the  Norfolk  court  in  1765;^  and 
the  jurisdiction  of  these  courts  was  thus  made  equal  to  that 
of  the  county  courts. 

Besides  their  duties  in  the  borough  courts,  the  mayor,  re- 
corder, and  aldermen  were  usually  members  of  the  county 
courts  of  quarter-sessions;  and  in  New  York  and  Elizabeth 
they  comprised  the  whole  membership  of  the  county  courts. 
In  Philadelphia  only  the  mayor  and  recorder  were  admitted 
to  the  county  courts.  In  the  Albany  county  court  one  of 
the  city  members  of  the  court  was  presiding  officer.  The 
jurisdiction  of  these  courts  was  similar  to  those  of  the  courts 
of  quarter-sessions  in  England,  and  is  set  forth  at  length  in 
the  charter  to  Elizabeth.' 

Legislative.  —  The  charters  uniformly  gave  to  the  common 
council  of  each  borough,  authority  to  make,  ordain,  and 
establish  such  laws  and  ordinances  as  should  "seem  to  be 
good,  useful,  or  necessary  for  the  good  rule  and  government 
of  the  body  corporate,"  *  and  to  alter  and  repeal  the  same. 
But  such  ordinances  or  by-laws  must  not  be  repugnant  to  the 
king's  prerogative,  the  laws  of  England,  or  the  laws  of  the 
general  assembly  of  the  colony;  while  further  restrictions 
were  added  in  many  of  the  charters. 

Thus,  in  New  York  and  Albany  the  ordinances  expired  at  the 
end  of  a  year,  unless  they  had  been  confirmed  by  the  lieu- 
tenant-governor and  council.  The  Dongan  charter  to  New 
York  City  had  set  the  limit  at  three  months.  In  Perth 
Amboy  and  New  Brunswick  the  ordinances  of  the  common 
councils  were  binding  for  only  six  months,  unless  within  six 
weeks  after  their  passage  they  were  approved  by  the  governor 
and  council.^  The  practical  efifect  of  these  provisions  was  to 
compel  the  councils  to  go  through  the  form  of  reenacting 
the  body  of  ordinances  every  year  or  six  months,  as  the  case 

*  Hening,  Statutes  of  Virginia,  IV,  542. 
'Ibid.,  VIII,  153. 

'  In  N.  Murray,  Notes  on  Elizabeth,  p.  38. 

*  New  York  Charter  of  1730. 

«  A.  Scott,  in  N.  J.  Hist.  Soc.  Proc,  IX,  156. 


78  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

might  be.  This  seems  to  have  answered  all  purposes,  and 
there  are  no  indications  of  any  attempt  being  made  to  secure 
the  approval  of  the  higher  authorities.  The  later  New 
Jersey  charters  seem  to  have  been  based  on  the  principle 
that  the  common  councils  could  be  trusted,  for  this  restrictive 
clause  is  omitted,  thus  relieving  them  of  the  necessity  of 
periodically  reenacting  the  body  of  local  by-laws. 

The  character  of  the  ordinances  passed  in  the  various 
boroughs  was  much  the  same.  In  all,  the  most  pressing 
question  seems  to  have  been  to  prevent  cattle  and  other 
animals  from  roaming  at  large  on  the  streets.  Regulating 
the  cleaning  of  the  streets,  and  later,  their  pavement,  is 
another  important  subject.  Ordinances  providing  for  the 
observation  of  the  Lord's  Day,  prohibiting  fast  driving, 
regulating  the  prices  of  bread  and  meat,  regulations  for 
avoiding  danger  from  fire,  rules  for  the  public  markets,  and 
for  preventing  tumultuous  gatherings  of  negroes  and  slaves, 
are  found  in  most  of  the  boroughs. 

At  the  same  time,  the  special  conditions  of  individual 
boroughs  led  to  the  passage  of  many  ordinances  peculiar  to 
each.  Thus  in  Albany  the  defence  of  the  city  against  Indian 
attacks  and  the  regulation  of  the  Indian  trade  were  constant 
subjects  of  municipal  legislation;  and  in  Philadelphia  an 
ordinance  to  prevent  actors  from  performing  plays  *  was  duly 
enacted. 

In  regard  to  the  regulation  of  the  prices  of  food,  some  of  the 
assizes  established  by  the  Albany  council  may  be  of  interest. 
On  December  7,  1706,  it  was  resolved  by  the  common  council, 

"that  ye  following  assisse  be  made  of  bread,  Vizt.  that  one  pound  neet 
"weight  of  fine  fiower  Bread  shall  be  sold  for  Six  stuyvens  or  l^^d.  and 
"eight  and  a  half  pound  like  weight  bread  Bake  as  ye  meel  comes  from 
"ye  mill  for  9d.  and  Eight  pound  like  weight  Bread  made  of  ye  course 
"flowr  for  9d.  or  four  pound  for  four  pence  half  penny."  ^ 

The  penalty  for  a  violation  of  this  ordinance  was  six  shillings. 
In  1757  the  following  prices  of  meat  were  established:  — 

*  AUinson  and  Penrose,  Philadelphia,  p.  51. 

'  "  City  Records,"  in  J.  Munsell,  Annals  of  Albany,  V,  143. 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS   IN   THE   COLONIES  79 

"Meat  4d.  a  pound. 
Head  and  Pluck  of  Calf,  one  shilling  a  pound. 
"        "         "      of  Sheep,  9d.  a  pound. 
"      of  Lamb,  6d.  a  pound."  ' 

These  prices  were  changed  from  time  to  time  by  ordinance; 
and  they  seem  to  have  in  fact  determined'  the  market  price, 
for  in  1770  the  butchers  of  the  city  presented  a  petition  for  an 
alteration  in  prices,  which,  however,  the  council  declined  to 
change.* 

BOROUGH  ADMINISTRATION 

In  the  colonial  boroughs  the  administrative  duties  of  the 
municipal  authorities  did  not  so  completely  subordinate  their 
judicial  and  legislative  powers  as  in  the  city  of  to-day.  Never- 
theless their  administrative  functions  were  considerable,  espe- 
cially in  the  management  of  markets,  the  repair  and  cleansing 
of  streets,  and  in  some  boroughs  in  maintaining  municipal 
wharves  and  ferries.  Some  branches  of  municipal  activity, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  distribution  of  poor  rehef,  were  generally 
controlled  by  other  officials  than  those  connected  with  the 
borough  government.  Others,  such  as  the  police  and  fire 
departments,  waterworks  and  sewerage  systems,  had  not, 
even  by  the  end  of  the  colonial  period,  reached  the  stage  of 
systematic  organization;  but  the  beginnings  and  early  steps 
in  these  lines  are  of  no  little  interest. 

It  is  worth  noting  that  most  of  the  administrative  functions 
were  revenue  producing  undertakings  such  as  would  fall 
within  the  controversial  field  of  municipal  ownership  at  the 
present  time, — as  markets,  docks,  wharves,  and  water  supply. 
And  it  is  only  in  the  latter  part  of  the  colonial  period  that 
we  find  significant  beginnings  in  those  branches  of  nixmicipal 
administration — such  as  police,  fire  protection,  and  street 
improvements — supported  by  taxation,  which  are  the  most 
important  and  universal  in  our  day. 

Markets  and  Fairs.  —  The  common  council  of  each  borough 

*"City  Records,"  in  J.  Munsell,  Collections  on  Albany,  I,  108. 
» Ibid.,  I,  217. 


80  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

was  empowered  by  its  charter  to  establish  a  market,  to  be 
held  on  certain  days  of  each  week;  and  also  to  hold  annual 
or  semiannual  fairs.  The  number  of  market  days  in  each 
week  varied  from  one  to  three,  according  to  the  needs  of  the 
town.  In  Bristol,  markets  were  held  every  Thursday ;  * 
in  Albany  and  Philadelphia,  twice  a  week  (Wednesday  and 
Saturday) ; '  in  New  York  and  Norfolk,  three  times  a  week 
(Tuesday,  Thursday,  and  Saturday).  Market  houses  were 
built  by  the  corporation,  generally  in  the  centre  of  the  streets ; 
and  the  rentals  of  the  stalls  formed  a  substantial  source  of 
revenue  to  the  government.  New  York  had  two  market- 
houses  before  1686,'  and  five  more  were  built  before  the 
Montgomerie  charter  was  issued.*  In  Albany  there  were 
three  market-houses,  one  in  each  ward.* 

At  the  markets  only  freemen  of  the  borough  could  sell 
goods;  but  the  fairs  were  open  to  all  comers,  though  in 
Norfolk  the  freemen  of  that  borough  were  exempt  from  one- 
half  of  the  tolls.  At  these  fairs,  law  and  order  were  in  a 
measure  suspended,  and  toward  the  end  of  the  colonial 
period  there  was  on  that  account  great  opposition  to  them, 
especially  in  Pennsylvania.  On  November  10,  1773,  the 
council  of  Bristol  borough  resolved  that  the  fair  was  useless 
on  account  of  the  large  number  of  stores,  and  that  "the  de- 
bauchery, idleness,  and  drunkenness,  consequent  on  the 
meeting  of  the  lowest  class  of  people  together,  is  a  real  evil 
and  calls  for  redress."  ®  In  Philadelphia  there  was  also  a 
demand  for  the  suppression  of  the  fairs  as  nuisances.'  But 
the  borough  councils  could  not  abolish  a  chartered  institu- 
tion, and  even  the  provincial  assembly  doubted  its  powers  to 
change  the  charters,  and  did  not  abolish  fairs  until  1796. 

'  W.  P.  Holcomb,  Pennsylvania  Boroughs,  p.  40. 

'  "  Albany  Charter,"  AUinson  and  Penrose,  Philadelphia. 

'Preamble  to  Dongan's' Charter. 

•  Kent,  Charter  of  New  York,  p.  25. 

•  "  City  Records,"  in  J.  Munsell,  Annals  of  Albany. 

•  W.  P.  Holcomb,  Pennsylvania  Boroughs,  p.  41. 
'  Allinson  and  Penrose,  Philadelphia,  p.  49. 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS  IN   THE   COLONIES  81 

Ferries.  —  The  New  York  City  authorities  had  established 
a  ferry  to  Long  Island  before  the  corporation  had  been  con- 
firmed by  Dongan's  charter/  and  the  power  to  maintain  this 
was  conferred  by  that  charter.  In  1708,  on  the  petition  of 
the  corporation  a  special  charter  was  granted,^  conferring 
the  exclusive  privilege  of  maintaining  the  public  ferry  to 
Long  Island,  and  of  establishing  and  maintaining  such  ad- 
ditional ferries  as  they  should  think  fit.  This  charter  also 
granted  to  the  corporation  of  New  York  all  the  vacant  land 
between  high-  and  low-water  marks  on  Long  Island  from 
Wallabout  to  Red  Hook,  to  enable  them  to  provide  suitable 
accommodation  on  that  side  of  the  river  for  the  ferryboats. 
For  these  privileges  the  corporation  was  to  pay  a  yearly  rent 
of  five  shillings  to  the  collector  and  receiver-general  at  New 
York.  The  charter  of  1730  confirmed  these  ferry  rights  to 
the  corporation,  and  two  years  later  the  provincial  assembly 
passed  a  law  reaffirming  the  monopoly  of  ferries  to  Long 
Island,  and  at  the  same  time  regulating  rates  of  ferriage.^ 

Albany  also  had  municipal  ferries,  which  like  those  of  New 
York  were  let  out  to  private  persons.  The  common  council 
established  the  rates  of  fare,  and  there  is  no  record  of  any 
interference  by  the  provincial  assembly  with  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Albany  ferries.  The  corporation  of  Philadelphia 
established  ferries;  but  ferry  privileges  were  also  granted  to 
individuals  by  the  provincial  assemblies.  As  the  number  of 
ferries  increased  in  importance  with  the  expansion  of  the 
city,  the  control  of  them  became  a  frequent  source  of  con- 
tention between  the  provincial  government,  the  corporation, 
and  individuals;  but  the  corporation  never  succeeded  in 
obtaining  a  monopoly  grant  of  power  over  ferries.* 

Between  Bristol,  Penn.,  and  Burlington,  N.J.,  there  was 
a  ferry  which  was  a  matter  of  frequent  consideration  by  the 

»  Preamble  to  Charter  of  1686. 

*  J.  Kent,  Charter  of  the  City  of  New  York,  p.  26. 

*  Ch.  593,  Colonial  Laws  of  New  York,  October  14,  1732. 
■•  Allinson  and  Penrose,  Philadelphia,  p.  48. 


82  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

Bristol  authorities.  As  in  Albany  the  council  would  lease 
the  ferry  and  fix  the  rate  of  tolls.  When,  however,  the 
time  came  for  the  ferryman  to  pay  his  rent  he  usually  rep- 
resented that  his  tolls  were  too  light  to  pay  the  sum  agreed 
on,  and  the  council  was  always  merciful  enough  to  let  him 
off  with  paying  half,* 

Docks  and  Wharves.  —  The  New  York,  Albany,  and  Phila- 
delphia corporations  were  authorized  to  build  public  docks 
and  wharves.  The  Montgomerie  charter  to  New  York 
granted  the  corporation  for  this  purpose  the  soil  under  the 
waters  of  the  Hudson  and  East  rivers  for  four  hundred  feet 
below  low-water  mark  on  Manhattan  Island  from  Bestaver's 
Kill  on  the  Hudson  River  to  Corlear's  Hook  on  the  East 
River.  Such  docks  and  wharves  were  let  out,  in  the  same 
fashion  as  the  ferries,  to  private  individuals,  who  collected 
wharfage  from  vessels  using  the  docks.  The  rental  of  the 
New  York  docks  was  £30  in  1710,  £73  in  1740,  and  £620  in 
1766  —  figures  which  illustrate  the  development  of  New 
York  commerce  as  well  as  of  the  city  dock  system. 

At  Albany  the  wharves  were,  of  course,  much  less  important 
than  those  at  New  York.  Before  1766  they  seem  to  have  been 
almost  neglected  by  the  city  authorities;  but  in  that  year 
three  new  docks  were  ordered  to  be  built,  another  was  deter- 
mined on  two  years  later,  and  in  1774  an  addition  to  the 
North  dock  was  voted  by  the  council.  The  rental  of  the 
docks  at  Albany  was  determined  by  public  auction,  and  in 
the  twenty  years  after  1766  varied  from  £55  to  £103.^ 

Streets  and  Roads.  —  New  York  was  the  only  borough 
where  the  corporation  had  the  power  to  lay  out  new  streets 
through  private  property,  and  even  here  their  authority  was 
limited.  In  the  Dongan  charter  it  was  expressly  provided 
that  the  consent  of  the  owner  must  be  obtained;  but  by 
statute  in  1691 '  the  corporation  was  empowered  to  take 

•  W.  P.  Holcomb,  Pennsylvania  Boroughs,  pp.  38,  39. 
* "  City  Records,"  in  Munsell,  Collections  on  Albany,  I. 
'  Colonial  Laws  of  New  York,  ch.  18. 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS   IN   THE   COLONIES  83 

possession  under  certain  conditions,  without  the  consent  of 
the  owner.  The  law  specifically  asserted  that  no  authority 
was  given  "to  break  through  any  ground  fenced  or  enclosed, 
or  to  take  away  any  person's  house  or  habitation."  The 
city  government  could,  however,  use  open  and  vacant  land 
on  payment  of  damages  as  assessed  by  a  jury.  Even  this 
restricted  authority  in  the  matter  of  opening  new  streets 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  within  the  scope  of  any  other 
borough  corporation. 

The  borough  governments  had  more  power  on  the  subject 
of  paving  and  cleaning  the  streets.  As  early  as  March  12, 
1694-5,  the  Albany  council  required  each  householder  "to 
make  or  cause  to  be  made  eight  feet  ground  before  his  own 
house  fronting  on  ye  street  paved  with  stones."  ^  And  again 
on  December  3,  1717,  an  ordinance  was  passed  requiring 
owners  and  tenants  of  houses  fronting  on  the  streets  to  "re- 
pair and  pave  ye  same  each  half  y®  breadth  of  y®  s*^  streets."^ 
Similar  ordinances  were  passed  from  time  to  time.  The  paving 
was  of  cobblestones,  laid  from  the  sides  of  the  street  out,  leav- 
ing the  centre  unpaved  as  an  open  watercourse  or  gutter. 

The  New  York  council  required  the  property  owners  on  the 
principal  streets  to  pave  the  streets  in  this  manner,^  In 
Philadelphia  many  of  the  inhabitants  about  1718  voluntarily 
paved  in  front  of  their  premises;  and  in  1736  an  ordinance 
was  passed  requiring  this  under  penalty  of  having  it  done  at 
their  expense  by  the  corporation.'*  It  is  not,  however,  until 
the  very  end  of  the  colonial  period  that  any  systematic 
attempts  at  paving  were  entered  on.  A  Pennsylvania  act 
of  1762  provided  for  the  election  of  six  road  commissioners, 
who,  in  cooperation  with  the  mayor,  recorder,  and  aldermen, 
should  direct  the  management  of  the  streets,  could  contract 
for  work  and  materials,  and  in  cooperation  with  the  assessors 

*  "  City  Records,"  in  J.  Munsell,  Annals  of  Albany,  II,  136. 
2  Ibid.,  VI,  73. 

'  Memorial  History  of  New  York,  II,  165. 

*  Allinson  and  Penrose,  Philadelphia,  p.  30. 


84  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

could  levy  taxes  for  street  purposes  ^  Two  years  later  the 
New  York  assembly  passed  an  act  ^  authorizing  the  corpora- 
tion of  New  York  City  to  appoint  commissioners  to  regulate 
and  keep  in  repair  the  highways  and  other  public  roads, 
and  to  raise  by  a  general  tax  such  sums  as  should  be  necessary. 
In  1775  a  special  tax  of  £200  was  authorized,  for  street 
purposes.'  Just  how  far  action  was  taken  under  these 
statutes  is  not  clear;  but  in  Philadelphia  there  does  not  seem 
to  have  been  any  radical  improvement,  and  "the  streets 
continued  to  be  ill-managed  even  for  those  provincial  days."  * 

Keeping  the  streets  free  from  rubbish  and  obstructions  was 
one  of  the  important  tasks  of  the  borough  authorities.  The 
usual  method  was  to  pass  an  ordinance  requiring  each  house- 
holder to  keep  clear  the  street  in  front  of  his  premises,  and  in 
some  instances  it  was  found  necessary  to  pass  a  special  ordi- 
nance naming  a  particular  street  which  was  to  be  cleared. 

Open  drains  were  constructed  to  carry  off  surplus  water 
and  refuse;  and  the  New  York  corporation  early  constructed 
what  was  called  a  "common  sewer"  through  the  great  dock,^ 
The  only  other  indication  of  anything  approaching  a  sewerage 
system  is  that  the  Philadelphia  road  commissioners,  pro- 
vided for  in  the  Act  of  1768,  were  to  have  charge  of  the  build- 
ing and  repair  of  drains  and  sewers.*  Such  sewers  as  were 
constructed  could  only  have  been  for  the  removal  of  surface 
water  and  street  refuse;  and  no  complete  sewerage  system 
for  carrying  of  fcecal  matter  was  constructed  until  after  the 
colonial  period. 

Water  Supply.  —  Throughout  the  colonial  period  the 
water  supply  of  the  boroughs  was  from  pumps  and  springs. 
New  York  and  Albany  from  the  earliest  records  had  munici- 

*  Allinson  and  Penrose,  Philadelphia,  p.  32. 

»  Colonial  Laws  of  New  York,ch.  1268,  October  20,  1764. 
»  Ibid.,  ch.  1698. 

*  Allinson  and  Penrose,  Philadelphia,  p.  34. 

*  In  1717  a  special  tax  of  £500  was  authorized  for  extending  the  sewer 
farther  into  the  river.     Colonial  Laws,  ch.  327. 

*  Allinson  and  Penrose,  Philadelphia,  p.  31. 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS  IN   THE   COLONIES  85 

pal  pumps,  the  building  and  repair  of  which  were  frequent 
subjects  of  discussion  in  the  council  meetings.  By  a  statute 
of  1753  *  the  common  council  of  New  York  was  required  to 
appoint  overseers  of  wells  and  pumps,  whose  duty  it  was  to 
keep  the  public  wells  and  pumps  in  good  order.  In  Phila- 
delphia the  town  pumps  were  originally  erected  and  owned 
by  private  persons,  but  their  great  importance  led  to  various 
ordinances  for  their  regulation.  Thus  in  1713  the  common 
council  ordered  that  before  a  pump  should  be  driven  the 
location  should  be  viewed  by  the  mayor,  recorder,  and  three 
aldermen.  This  ordinance  also  authorized  the  owners  of 
pumps  to  charge  rent  for  their  use  by  neighbors.  In  1756 
the  general  control  of  pumps  in  Philadelphia  was  placed  in 
the  hands  of  wardens,  who  were  given  power  to  sink  new 
wells,  to  purchase  private  pumps,  and  to  assess  such  house- 
holders as  used  the  public  pumps.^ 

In  1774  the  Albany  council  undertook  the  establishment  of 
what  may  be  called  a  waterworks  plant.  A  contract  was 
made  for  laying  water-pipes  from  the  springs  to  the  pumps, 
a  distance  of  766  feet,  and  for  building  cisterns  at  the  springs. 
We  have  here,  though  in  a  decidedly  primitive  style,  the 
prototypes  of  the  three  main  elements  in  a  system  of  water 
supply, —  a  reservoir,  an  aqueduct,  and  a  pumping  station. 

Fire-engines.  —  It  was  not  until  well  into  the  eighteenth 
century  that  any  of  the  colonial  boroughs  had  secured  for 
itself  a  fire-engine.  Previous  to  that  time  the  only  method 
of  extinguishing  fires  was  by  means  of  buckets  of  water,  and 
in  several  boroughs  householders  were  required  to  keep  on 
hand  a  specified  number  of  leathern  buckets  to  be  used 
whenever  a  fire  should  break  out.  In  1718  the  corporation 
of  Philadelphia  bought  an  engine  for  fifty  pounds.'  Twelve 
years  later  the  need  of  additional  protection  against  fire  was 
felt,  and  three  new  engines  were  ordered,  as  well  as  200 

'  Colonial  Laws  of  New  York,  ch.  941,  December  12,  1753. 
'  Allinson  and  Penrose,  Philadelphia,  p.  37. 
»  Ibid.,  p.  41. 


8b  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

leather  buckets,  20  ladders,  and  25  hooks.  In  the  same  year 
(1730)  the  city  of  New  York  was  authorized  to  purchase 
two  fire-engines;^  and  in  February,  1731-2,  the  Albany 
council  directed  that  an  order  be  given  for  a  "water  engine 
of  Richard  Newsham,  engineer,  of  the  fifth  sort,  with  six- 
foot  sucking  Pipe  with  a  leathern  Pipe  of  forty  foot,  includ- 
ing brass  screws."  ^  In  1764  the  Burlington  council  ordered 
a  fire-engine,  which,  like  the  others,  had  to  be  brought  over 
from  England. 

The  possession  of  fire-engines  necessitated  certain  expenses 
for  housing  them  and  keeping  them  in  repair;  but  other  than 
this  there  were  no  steps  in  the  direction  of  establishing  a  paid 
fire  department.  The  New  York  volunteer  fire  companies 
were  first  organized  by  a  statute  of  1737.'  This  provided  for 
a  force  of  42  men,  who  were  exempt  from  military  and  jury 
duty.  The  number  of  members  was  increased  by  subsequent 
acts,  until  by  1773  it  numbered  140.* 

Police.  —  The  systematic  patrol  of  the  streets  in  the  inter- 
est of  peace  and  order  is  a  feature  of  municipal  government 
that  had  not  been  thought  of  in  the  organization  of  the 
colonial  boroughs.  As  in  England,  each  borough  had  its 
high  constable  and  under  constables,  but  their  duties  were 
confined  to  the  execution  of  the  orders  of  the  court,  and 
there  seems  to  have  been  nothing  corresponding  to  our 
modern  police  system.  New  York  had  a  military  watch 
during  the  first  French  war,  and  again  in  1741,  during  the 

»  Colonial  Laws  of  New  York,  ch.  550  (1730). 

'  "  City  Records,"  in  Munsell,  Annals  of  Albany,  X,  19. 

The  Albany  Council  ordered  a  second  fire-engine  in  1740,  and  a  third  in 
1762.     The  bill  for  this  last  presents  some  curious  features.     The  Council 
in  making  their  order  in  March  had  specified  that  the  engine  should  cost 
fifty-five  pounds ;   but  the  bill  as  presented  was  as  follows :  — 
Cost  of  the  Engine  in  London  £68  13s.  8d.  at  95%  advance  .     £134-1-0 

Freight  from  London  to  New  York 19-4-0 

Interest  on  note  for  £104-10 5-4-6 

£158-9-6 
— "City  Records,"  in  Munsell,  Collections  on  Albany,  I,  141. 

'  Colonial  Laws  of  New  York,  ch.  670  (1737). 

*Ibid.,  ch.  1198  (1762);  ch.  1367  (1768);  ch.  1579  (1773). 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS   IN   THE   COLONIES  87 

excitement  connected  with  the  Negro  riots.*  Albany,  which 
was  exposed  to  Indian  attacks,  maintained  a  military  night 
watch  at  the  stockade  during  the  second  French  war  (from 
1699  to  1713),  which  was  revived  again  from  1745-1748.^ 
When  the  New  York  military  watch  was  given  up  in  1697,  it 
was  replaced  by  four  bellmen,  or  watchmen,  the  forerunners  of 
the  modem  policeman.  Their  duties  were  to  go  through  the 
town  at  night  ringing  a  bell  to  call  the  time  and  state  of  the 
weather,  and  to  inform  the  constable  of  any  disorder  or  fires. 
In  1700  the  provincial  council  of  Pennsylvania  appointed 
a  watchman  for  Philadelphia,  and  in  1713  Albany  established 
the  office  of  bellman.' 

In  Philadelphia,  beginning  in  1704,  an  attempt  was  made  to 
establish  a  night  watch,  to  be  filled  by  the  citizens  in  turn; 
but  it  was  found  difficult  to  get  each  one  to  do  his  share,  and 
the  watch  seems  to  have  been  irregular  and  inefficient.  In 
New  York  when  the  military  watch  established  in  1741  was 
withdrawn,  it  was  replaced  by  a  force  of  twelve  night  watch- 
men.* This  continued  only  during  1742,  and  was  followed 
by  the  system  of  obligatory  and  unpaid  citizen  service.  The 
establishment  of  a  considerable  force  of  paid  watchmen  was 
begun  at  Philadelphia  in  1750;  the  charge  of  the  force  was, 
however,  not  given  to  the  corporation,  but  to  six  elected 
wardens.^  Eleven  years  later  the  New  York  corporation 
was  authorized  to  levy  a  tax  of  £1800  for  providing  street 
lamps  and  paying  night  watchmen,*  and  a  force  of  watch- 
men was  definitely  estabfished.  In  1763  and  1764  the  two 
Virginia  boroughs  were  authorized  to  levy  taxes  for  the  same 
purposes.^    In  Albany  the  authority  to  levy  the  necessary 

*  Colonial  Laws  of  New  York,  ch.  708  (1741). 

'  "  City  Records,"  in  Munsell,  Annals  of  Albany,  VI,  289;  Colonial  Laws 
of  New  York,  chs.  808,  826,  857. 

'  After  1723  there  were  two  bellmen  in  Albany;  in  1731  the  number 
was  increased  to  four,  but  in  1734  reduced  to  the  former  number  of  two. 

*  Colonial  Laws  of  New  York,  ch.  711  (1741). 

•  AUinson  and  Penrose,  Philadelphia,  p.  36. 

•  Colonial  Laws  of  New  York,  ch.  1164  (1761). 

'  Hening,  Statutes  of  Virginia,  VII,  654,  ch.  9;  VIII,  21,  ch.  8. 


88  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

tax  having  been  procured/  the  council  in  1770  appointed  an 
overseer  and  twenty-one  watchmen.^  The  next  year,  how- 
ever, twenty  street  lamps  were  purchased,  and  the  number 
of  watchmen  was  reduced  to  six,  two  to  be  on  duty  every 
third  night.'  This  action  strikingly  emphasizes  the  relation 
between  street  lighting  and  police  patrol,  indicated  also  by 
the  conjunction  of  the  two  functions  in  the  legislative  acts 
authorizing  taxation  for  these  purposes. 

Two  great  functions  of  municipal  government  of  to-day  — 
the  administration  of  charities  and  of  public  schools  —  were 
almost  entirely  without  the  scope  of  the  borough  govern- 
ments. In  Philadelphia  the  overseers  of  the  poor  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  mayor,  recorder,  and  aldermen;  but  else- 
where they  were  separately  elected,  and  everywhere  their 
accounts  and  functions  were  separate  from  the  borough  cor- 
porations. Education  was  not  yet  considered  a  public 
function,  and  in  none  of  the  boroughs  does  there  seem  to 
have  been  any  public  schools.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add 
that  public  parks  and  public  libraries  were  also  unknown. 

On  the  other  hand,  two  important  officials  of  these  early 
days  have  disappeared.  The  town  crier  has  his  vocation 
taken  by  the  daily  newspaper;  and  change  of  public  senti- 
ment has  done  away  with  the  public  whipper,  an  official  who, 
in  Albany,  at  least,  was  always  a  negro  slave  of  immense 
size. 

FINANCES 

The  financial  operations  of  the  colonial  boroughs,  as  may 
be  surmised  from  the  limited  field  of  their  operations,  were 
conducted  on  no  very  extended  scale.  The  single  fact  that 
direct  taxation,  though  toward  the  end  of  the  colonial  period 
it  was  used  in  some  boroughs  to  a  considerable  extent,  was 
nowhere  the  main  source  of  revenue,  will  indicate  how  limited 
was  the  scope  of  their  activities.  The  principal  revenues 
until  the  last  two  decades  before  the  Revolution  were  derived 

'  Colonial  Laws  of  New  York,  ch.  1426. 

'"City  Records,"  in  J.  Munsell,  Collections  on  Albany,  1,  210,  211, 
January,  1770.  » Ibid.,  I,  226  (1771). 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS   IN  THE   COLONIES 


89 


from  fines,  fees,  licenses,  and  rents  from  borough  property, 
while  lotteries  and  public  subscriptions  were  not  infrequently 
resorted  to  for  extraordinary  expenses  or  to  pay  off  an  ac- 
cumulated debt.  Fines  were  received  mainly  through  the 
courts  from  persons  found  guilty  of  violations  of  ordinances 
or  colonial  laws;  but  they  were  also  imposed  for  non-atten- 
dance at  the  meetings  of  the  common  council,  and  for  refusal 
to  accept  office.  Fees  for  the  grant  of  the  freedom  of  the 
city  at  times  yielded  considerable  revenue  in  some  boroughs; 
but  in  Albany  the  fees  were  so  low  that  this  source  could  never 
have  yielded  any  large  amount  to  the  treasury  of  that  city. 

The  rents  from  borough  property  were  the  largest  steady 
source  of  income.  All  of  the  boroughs  had  markets,  the 
tolls  and  rental  from  which  were  considerable  for  the  times; 
and  those  boroughs  which  owned  wharves  and  ferries  made 
them  their  main  sources  of  revenue.  New  York  and  Albany 
also  derived  considerable  revenue  from  the  corporation  lands, 
the  former  city  having  large  grants  on  Manhattan  Island, 
and  the  latter  having  early  purchased  from  the  Indians 
certain  large  tracts  at  Schaghticoke.  Not  much  of  these 
lands  was  sold  during  the  colonial  period ;  ^  but  a  good  deal 
was  leased,  especially  by  the  Albany  council,  thus  providing 
a  steady  annual  source  of  income. 

The  following  table  showing  the  receipts  of  the  New  York 
corporation  from  these  sources  for  certain  years  will  illustrate 
their  relative  importance  at  the  different  dates :  — 

RECEIPTS  OF   NEW    YORK  CITY  ^ 


Markets 

1710 

180 
30 
52 
10 
7 
15 

1740 

£ 

310 

73 

260 

15 

89 

1766 
£440 

Ferry         

660 

Docks        

620 

Licenses    

Freedoms 

Fines 

Leases  and  Rents 

428 

£294 

£747 

£2148 

*  Cf.  Black,  Municipal  Ownership  of  Land  on  Manhattan  Island. 

*  From  statements  in  Valentine's  Manual  for  1859,  pp.  505-509. 


90  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

The  charters  of  the  colonial  boroughs,  like  those  granted 
to  English  towns,  did  not  give  any  authority  to  the  corpora- 
tion to  levy  direct  taxes.  But  the  colonial  legislature  early 
adopted  the  policy  of  altering  and  amending  the  powers  con- 
ferred by  the  charters;  and  by  authorizing  in  these  amend- 
ing acts  the  levy  of  direct  taxes  for  special  purposes,  they 
paved  the  way  for  the  present  system  of  municipal  rev- 
enue, in  which  direct  taxation  plays  the  most  important 
part. 

The  first  direct  tax  for  municipal  purposes  based  upon  a 
formal  assessment  of  the  value  of  the  property  of  the  individ- 
ual was  levied  by  the  New  York  corporation  in  1676.  This 
and  a  similar  tax  in  the  following  year  was  to  pay  off  the  debt 
incurred  in  rebuilding  the  great  dock.  During  the  next 
decade  direct  taxation  was  again  resorted  to  on  three  or  four 
occasions,  chiefly  to  reduce  the  debt.*  In  1691  the  city  of 
New  York  was  authorized  by  act  of  the  new  colonial  as- 
sembly "  to  impose  any  reasonable  tax  upon  all  Houses  within 
the  said  city,  in  proportion  to  the  benefit  they  shall  receive 
thereby"  for  the  expenses  of  constructing  sewers,  vaults, 
and  street  pavements.  By  this  the  system  of  special  assess- 
ments for  "betterments"  was  firmly  established  in  New 
York  finances.  A  law  of  1699  ^  authorized  the  corporation  of 
New  York  to  levy  a  tax  annually  for  three  years;  and  in 
1701 '  both  New  York  and  Albany  were  authorized  to  levy 
a  tax  of  not  over  £300  a  year  for  the  payment  of  representa- 
tives in  the  colonial  assembly,  bellmen,  and  other  necessary 
expenses.  In  Albany  an  annual  tax  was  levied  regularly 
from  this  until  1716,  and  again  after  1724,  when  another 
statute  authorizing  a  tax  of  not  over  £60  a  year  was  passed 
for  Albany  alone.*  New  York  levied  the  tax  of  £300  for 
several  years  after  1701;    in  1704  the  amount  was  reduced 

*  Durand,  Finances  of  New  York  City,  p.  20. 
'  Colonial  Laws  of  New  York,  ch.  82. 

» Ibid.,  ch.  96. 

*  Ibid.,  ch.  454. 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS   IN   THE   COLONIES  91 

to  £200,  and  shortly  afterward  the  other  income  of  the  city 
proved  sufficient  and  taxation  as  a  regular  source  of  revenue 
ceased.  But  on  several  occasions  during  the  next  forty 
years  taxes  were  levied  under  special  acts  of  the  legislature, 
usually  to  meet  some  extraordinary  expenditure  or  to  pay  off 
accumulated  debts.^ 

About  the  middle  of  the  century  direct  taxation  became  a 
regular  source  of  a  considerable  part  of  the  revenue  of  New 
York  City.  In  1753  a  yearly  tax  for  the  purpose  of  maintain- 
ing the  town  pumps  and  wells  was  authorized,^  but  the 
amount  of  the  levy  was  hmited  to  £120,  which  was  increased 
in  1764  to  £200.'  In  1761  another  tax  of  £1800  was  au- 
thorized to  provide  street  lights  and  maintain  a  force  of 
night  watchmen,*  and  this  tax  with  some  variation  in  the 
amount  from  year  to  year  became  a  permanent  annual  tax. 
Special  tax  laws  for  Albany  were  passed  in  1761  and  1762. 
Beginning  with  1769  the  Albany  council  levied  an  annual  tax 
of  £250,  apparently  without  legislative  sanction.  In  1774 
the  New  York  City  law  of  1761  was  duplicated  for  Albany 
with  the  maximum  placed  at  £160,  and  after  that  the  Albany 
levy  was  kept  within  this  limit.' 

The  legislatures  of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  were  equally 
willing  to  grant  this  power  of  taxation  to  the  chartered  cor- 
porations within  their  borders.  In  1712  the  city  of  Phila- 
delphia was  authorized  to  levy  a  tax  of  not  over  twopence 
in  the  pound  to  pay  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  govern- 
ment.* Fifty  years  later  the  limit  was  raised  to  threepence 
in  the  pound.'    In  1733  the  Bristol  council  levied  a  tax  of 

*  The  most  important  of  these  special  acts  are  ch.  178  (1708) ;  eh.  327 
(1717);   ch.  550  (1730);   ch.  669  (1737);   ch.  711  (1741). 

'  Colonial  Laws  of  New  York,  ch.  941  (1753). 
'  Ibid.,  ch.  1259  (1764). 

*  IbU.,  ch.  1161  (1761);  of.  also  ch.  1261  (1764);  ch.  1365  (1768);  ch.  4 
(1774);    ch.  7  (1775). 

» Ibid.,  ch.  7  (1774);  ch.  8  (1775);  "  City  Records,"  in  Munsell,  CoZieo- 
tions  on  Albany,  I,  200-270. 

'Laws  of  Pennsylvania,  ch.  176  (1712). 

"  Allinson  and  Penrose,  Philadelphia,  p.  33. 


92  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

twopence  in  the  pound  on  all  estates,  and  six  shillings  a  head 
for  single  men/ 

In  1744  the  Williamsburg  authorities  were  given  power 
to  levy  a  tax  for  the  purpose  of  building  a  prison,  and  simi- 
lar powers  were  conferred  on  the  close  corporation  of  Nor- 
folk in  1752.^  Norfolk  was  the  first  of  the  three  Virginia 
boroughs  to  receive  the  more  extended  grant  to  levy  a  tax 
from  time  to  time  for  the  expense  of  a  night  watch  and  for 
public  lighting.'  This  was  in  1763;  and  the  year  following 
a  still  larger  sweep  of  power  was  given  to  the  Williams- 
burg government,*  which  was  authorized  to  lay  taxes  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  building  a  court  house,  a  market- 
house,  a  prison,  and  contagious  diseases  hospitals;  for  pur- 
chasing fire-engines  and  paying  the  wages  of  firemen;  for 
sinking  public  wells  and  placing  pumps;  for  night  watch- 
men, and  for  keeping  in  order  the  streets  and  lanes  of  the 
city.  In  none  of  these  Virginia  statutes  was  there  any  limit 
on  the  amount  of  tax  which  might  be  levied. 

Thus  by  the  close  of  the  colonial  period  all  the  more  im- 
portant of  the  municipal  corporations  had  received  an  im- 
portant addition  to  their  charter  powers  in  the  authority  to 
levy  taxes.  As  yet  this  power  was  granted  only  for  specific 
purposes  and  usually  with  a  limitation  on  the  amount  of  tax ; 
but  it  is  evident  from  the  readiness  with  which  the  colonial 
legislatures  changed  the  details  of  the  laws  that  the  local 
corporations  were  not  seriously  hampered  by  these  restric- 
tions. If  a  larger  tax  was  wanted,  or  one  for  a  new  purpose, 
the  necessary  authority  could  readily  be  secured  at  the  first 
session  of  the  assembly. 

The  assessment  and  collection  of  taxes  was  managed  by 
each  borough  for  itself,  and  in  consequence  we  find  no  uni- 
form system.    In  Williamsburg,  the  council  made  the  assess- 

*  W.  P.  Holcomb,  Pennsylvania  Boroughs,  p.  39. 

»  Hening,  StatiUes  of  Virginia,  V,  ch.  27;  VI,  264. 
»  Ibid.,  VII,  654;   ch.  9  (1763). 

*  Ibid.,  VIII,  21;   ch.  8  (1764). 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS  IN   THE   COLONIES  93 

merit  itself,  and  appointed  collectors.*  In  Philadelphia  by 
the  Act  of  1712  six  assessors  were  to  be  chosen  annually  by 
the  voters  of  the  city,  and  these  assessors,  in  conjunction 
with  the  mayor,  recorder,  and  aldermen,  formed  the  board 
of  assessment,  and  appointed  tax  collectors.  The  Albany 
charter  made  both  assessors  and  collectors  elective  offices ;  ^ 
but  the  city  records  for  1707  note  that  the  justices  of  the 
peace,  pursuant  to  act  of  the  assembly,  appointed  an  assessor 
for  the  first  ward;  and  after  that  year  assessors  and  col- 
lectors were  no  longer  chosen  at  the  annual  municipal  elec- 
tions. In  New  York  there  were  no  special  assessors  and 
collectors  for  city  taxes.  The  rating  and  assessment  were 
made  by  the  vestrymen,  and  the  church  wardens  acted  as 
collectors,'  these  duties  being  imposed  on  them  because  they 
already  performed  the  same  work  in  connection  with  the  tax 
for  poor  relief. 

The  records  of  borough  receipts  and  expenditures  which  are 
available  indicate  the  absence  of  any  well-regulated  financial 
system  during  most  of  the  colonial  period.  The  total  annual 
expenditure  of  New  York  in  the  years  from  1710  to  1727 
varied  from  £187  to  £575;*  in  Albany,  between  1754  and 
1764,  it  varied  from  £20  to  £473.  These  variations  were 
due  mainly  to  the  lack  of  funds  in  the  corporation  treasuries 
for  several  years,  after  which  money  would  be  raised  by  a 
lottery  or  a  specially  authorized  tax  to  pay  off  the  accu- 
mulated debt.  In  New  York,  however,  we  find  a  steady 
progression  in  the  size  of  the  budget  after  the  third  decade 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  especially  after  1760.  In 
1740  the  total  receipts  were  £747 ;  in  1750  they  were  £2101 ; 
in  1766,  £6573;  in  1768,  £9278;  and  in  1769,  £10,395. 
Here,  then,  and  probably  also  in  Philadelphia,  municipal 


»  Hening,  Statutes  of  Virginia,  VIII,  ch.  21  (1764). 
'J.  Munsell,  Annals  of  Albany,  II,  90;    IV,  144;   V,  159. 
»  Cf.  Colonial  Laws  of  New  York,  ch.  1642  (1774). 
*  Valentine's  Manual  for  1859,  p.  506.     The  average  amount  for  these 
years  is  about  £335. 


94  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

finance  was  becoming  of  some  comparative  importance 
toward  the  end  of  the  period  we  are  considering.  But  in  the 
other  boroughs,  and  even  in  these  two  most  important  places 
before  1750,  the  per  capita  expenditure  was  far  below  that 
of  present-day  American  municipalities  of  the  same  popula- 
tion. The  low  rate  in  the  colonial  boroughs  was,  no  doubt, 
made  almost  necessary  by  the  poverty  of  the  towns  and  their 
inhabitants;  but  it  is  also  to  be  ascribed  in  part  to  the 
limited  scope  of  municipal  action  as  compared  with  that 
of  to-day. 


THE  MUNICIPAL  CRISIS   IN  OHIO* 

On  June  26,  1902,  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio  rendered 
three  decisions  which  precipitated  a  crisis  in  municipal  affairs 
in  that  state.  For,  by  these  decisions,  the  court  virtually- 
overruled  a  long  line  of  precedents,  and  laid  down  a  principle 
under  which  scarcely  a  city  in  the  state  possessed  a  constitu- 
tional government.  In  consequence,  the  legislature  was  sum- 
moned in  extraordinary  session  to  enact  a  new  municipal 
€ode  for  all  the  cities  and  villages  in  the  state. 

The  situation  was  unparalleled,  even  in  American  history; 
and  the  task  before  the  general  assembly  was,  doubtless,  the 
most  important  single  act  of  municipal  legislation  that  has 
come  before  an  American  legislature.  An  examination  of 
the  steps  leading  to  this  situation,  and  of  the  measures  taken 
to  solve  the  difficulties,  should  be  of  interest  and  significance. 

To  understand  the  situation  in  1902,  it  is  necessary  to 
begin  with  certain  clauses  in  the  second  constitution  of  Ohio, 
adopted  in  1851.  Under  the  first  constitution,  there  had 
been  no  restrictions  on  special  legislation,  and  the  misuse  of 
its  power  by  the  legislature  led  to  the  adoption  in  the  new 
instrument  of  three  different  provisions  affecting  municipal 
government :  — 

Art.  II,  Sec.  26.  "  All  laws  of  a  general  nature  shall  have  a  uni- 
form operation  throughout  the  state." 

Art.  XIII,  Sec.  1.  "  The  legislature  shall  pass  no  special  act  con- 
ferring corporate  powers." 

Art.  XIII,  Sec.  6.  "The  general  assembly  shall  provide  for  the 
organization  of  cities  and  incorporated  villages  by  general  laws,  and 
restrict  their  power  of  taxation,  assessment,  borrowing  money,  con- 
tracting debts,  and  loaning  their  credit,  so  as  to  prevent  the  abuse 
of  such  power." 

*  Reprinted  from  the  Michigan  Law  Review,  I,  352  (February,  1903). 

95 


96  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

In  accordance  with  these  provisions,  the  general  assembly 
in  1852  enacted  a  general  municipal  corporations  act,  —  the 
first  of  its  kind  in  the  United  States,  —  which  repealed  all 
of  the  special  charters  then  in  force.  This  act,  however, 
divided  such  corporations  into  four  classes:  cities  of  the 
first  class,  with  over  20,000  population;  cities  of  the  second 
class,  with  from  5000  to  20,000  population ;  incorporated  vil- 
lages; and  villages  incorporated  for  special  purposes.  The 
idea  of  classifying  municipal  corporations  had  been  suggested 
in  the  constitutional  convention ;  and  it  was  understood  that 
laws  applying  to  a  class  of  cities  met  the  constitutional  re- 
quirements. Moreover,  if  the  scheme  of  classification  first 
adopted  had  continued  in  force,  there  could  have  been  little 
or  no  special  legislation  for  particular  cities.  It  is  true  that 
when  the  law  of  1852  was  enacted,  Cincinnati  was  the  only 
city  in  the  first  class;  but  during  the  following  year  Cleve- 
land came  into  this  class,  and  other  cities  would  soon  have 
further  increased  the  number. 

Almost  at  once,  however,  the  general  classification  was 
amended  by  acts  applying  to  cities  within  certain  population 
limits  other  than  those  of  the  general  law.  By  this  means 
before  1860  special  laws  had  been  passed  for  Cincinnati  and 
Cleveland,  and  after  that  date  for  many  other  cities  and 
villages,  which  were  thus  each  placed  indirectly  in  a  separate 
class  for  certain  purposes.  In  1878  a  new  municipal  code 
was  adopted  with  an  intricate  system  of  classification,  which 
remained  in  force  until  overthrown  by  the  recent  decision 
of  the  Supreme  Court.  Cities  of  the  first  class  were  divided 
into  three  grades,  with  provision  for  a  fourth  grade.  Cities 
of  the  second  class  were  divided  into  four  grades.  Villages 
were  divided  into  two  classes.  Under  this  scheme  each  of 
the  five  chief  cities  was  in  a  grade  by  itself.  But  further 
refinements  of  classification  followed.  Grades  in  the  second 
class  were  subdivided,  until  eleven  cities  had  been  isolated, 
each  into  a  grade  by  itself;  while  still  further  specialization 
was  introduced  by  passing  acts  with  particular  population 


THE   MUNICTPAL   CRISIS  IN   OfflO  97 

formulas  which  applied  usually  to  only  a  single  city.  More- 
over, hundreds  of  acts  *  have  been  passed  conferring  powers 
on  particular  municipal  corporations  by  name. 

Most  of  this  municipal  legislation  went  into  effect  without 
any  attempt  to  test  its  constitutionality,  but  when  cases 
were  brought  before  the  courts,  all  but  the  most  flagrant 
cases  were  upheld.  In  1868,  the  Supreme  Court  decided 
that  an  act  conferring  powers  upon  cities  of  the  first  class, 
with  less  than  100,000  population  at  the  last  federal  census, 
had  a  uniform  operation  throughout  the  state,  although  there 
was  but  one  city  in  the  class.^  Other  acts  were  held  to  be 
constitutional  on  other  points,  without  considering  the 
clauses  here  under  discussion.^  By  this  process  the  way 
was  paved  for  the  broad  declaration,  that  "under  the  power 
to  organize  cities  and  villages,  the  general  assembly  is  author- 
ized to  classify  municipal  corporations,  and  an  act  relating 
to  any  such  class  may  be  one  of  a  general  nature."  *  On 
the  other  hand,  statutes  naming  particular  cities  were  held 
to  be  unconstitutional,®  as  was  also  an  act  applying  to  "  cities 
of  the  second  class  having  a  population  of  over  31,000  at  the 
last  federal  census,"  on  the  ground  that  Columbus  was  the 
only  city  to  which  the  law  could  ever  apply." 

At  length,  in  the  case  of  State  v.  Pugh,^  the  Supreme  Court 
defined  its  views  more  fully  in  these  words :  — 

"  It  is  not  to  be  urged  against  legislation,  general  in  form,  concern- 
ing cities  of  a  designated  class  or  grade,  that  but  one  city  in  the  state 
is  within  the  particular  classification  at  the  time  of  the  enactment. 
Nor  is  it  fatal  to  the  act  in  question  that  the  belief  or  intent  of  the 

*  There  were  1202  from  1876  to  1892.  Wilcox,  Municipal  Government 
in  Michigan  and  Ohio,  p.  79. 

2  Welker  v.  Potter,  18  Ohio  St.  85. 

3  Walker  v.  Cincinnati,  21  Ohio  St.  14. 

*  McGill  V.  State,  34  Ohio  St.  270.  See  also  State  v.  Brewster,  39 
Ohio  St.  653. 

'State  V.  Cincinnati,  20  Ohio  St.  18;  State  v.  Cincinnati;  23  Ohio 
St.  445. 

*  State  V.  Mitchell,  31  Ohio  St.  592. 
» 43  Ohio  St.  98. 


ys  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

individual  members  of  the  general  assembly  who  voted  for  the  act 
was,  that  it  should  apply  only  to  a  particular  city.  ...  If  any  other 
city  may  in  the  future,  by  virtue  of  its  increase  in  population,  and  the 
action  of  its  municipal  authorities,  ripen  into  a  city  of  the  same  class 
and  grade,  it  is  still  a  law  of  a  general  nature,  and  is  not  invalid,  even 
if  it  confer  corporate  powers.  On  the  other  hand,  if  it  is  clear  that  no 
other  city  in  the  state  can  in  the  future  come  within  its  operation 
without  doing  violence  to  the  manifest  object  and  purpose  of  its 
enactment,  and  to  the  clear  legislative  intent,  it  is  a  local  and  special 
act,  however  strongly  the  form  it  is  made  to  assume  may  suggest  its 
general  character." 

From  this  time,  the  constitutionality  of  the  intricate  sys- 
tem of  classification  was  considered  to  be  settled;  and  it  was 
only  necessary  for  the  framers  of  municipal  measures  to  be 
careful  in  wording  their  bills  so  that  they  were  general  in 
form,  and  legally  capable  of  adoption  by  other  cities  than 
those  for  which  they  were  primarily  intended.  It  is  true  the 
question  continued  to  be  raised  at  times;  and  on  some  occa- 
sions the  Supreme  Court  expressed  its  doubts  whether  the 
scheme  of  classification  was  originally  constitutional,  but  it 
felt  constrained  to  decide  in  accordance  with  the  previous 
cases,  under  the  doctrine  of  stare  decisis} 

Meanwhile,  in  the  guise  of  laws  dealing  with  classes  and 
grades  of  municipalities,  the  government  of  Ohio  cities  was 
regulated  in  the  main  by  statutes  applying  only  to  single 
cities.  For  the  most  part,  these  statutes  were  passed  at  the 
wish  of  the  local  members,  who  were  assumed  to  represent 
the  wishes  of  the  local  communities.  But  this  method  of 
legislation  not  only  introduced  all  sorts  of  local  idiosyncrasies 
in  municipal  government,  destroying  every  semblance  of  a 
general  system,  but  it  also  opened  the  way  for  partisan 
measures  which  dislocated  the  local  machinery  of  govern- 
ment for  the  sake  of  temporary  political  advantage,  without 
making  progress  in  the  direction  of  a  satisfactory  municipal 
organization. 

At  the  regular  session  of  the  general  assembly  in  the  spring 

'  State  V.  WaU,  47  Ohio  St.  499,  500. 


THE   MUNICIPAL   CRISIS   IN    OfflO  99 

of  1902  there  were  passed  several  measures  making  impor- 
tant changes  in  the  government  of  Cleveland  and  Toledo, 
in  the  usual  form  of  acts  applying  to  grades  of  cities.  One 
bill  transferred  the  control  of  the  Cleveland  parks  from  the 
municipal  authorities  to  a  county  board,  and  another,  au- 
thorizing any  county  auditor  to  apply  for  the  appointment  by 
the  state  board  of  appraisers  of  a  board  of  tax  review  to  super- 
sede the  local  body,  was  obviously  intended  for  application 
only  in  Cleveland.  These  measures  were  passed  by  the  Repub- 
lican majority  in  opposition  to  the  expressed  wishes  both 
of  the  municipal  authorities  and  the  members  of  the  legisla- 
ture from  Cuyahoga  County.  For  Toledo,  the  locally  elected 
police  board  was  to  be  replaced  by  a  bi-partisan  commission, 
appointed  by  the  governor  of  the  state ;  while  an  elective 
board  of  administration  was  also  created  to  take  over  the 
functions  of  several  previously  existing  boards.  These 
changes  were  proposed  and  supported  by  the  Toledo  mem- 
bers of  the  legislature,  and  the  latter  had  the  advantage  of 
concentrating  the  control  of  municipal  public  works  under  a 
single  authority;  but  the  police  bill  was  vigorously  opposed 
by  the  mayor  and  both  measures  were  thought  to  be  intended 
to  weaken  his  political  influence. 

These  measures  served  to  strengthen  the  growing  opposition 
to  the  notorious  evasion  of  the  constitution  which  made 
them  possible;  and  in  the  case  of  the  Toledo  pohce  bill  the 
opposition  resulted  in  a  suit  at  law,  which  reopened  the  legal 
question  and  led  to  the  startling  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  The  elected  police  commissioners  of  Toledo  refused 
to  surrender  to  the  new  commissioners  appointed  by  the  gov- 
ernor. Application  was  then  made  for  a  writ  of  mandamus 
to  compel  the  delivery  of  books  and  papers  to  the  state  board. 
About  the  same  time  two  other  cases  came  before  the  Supreme 
Court  on  the  same  issue,  —  that  certain  acts  conferring  cor- 
porate powers  on  municipal  authorities  were  special  acts, 
in  violation  of  the  constitution.  One  was  an  application  for 
an  injunction  to  prevent  the  trustees  of  the  Cincinnati  hos- 


100  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL    ADMINISTRATION 

pital  from  issuing  bonds  authorized  by  an  act  specifying  the 
particular  institution  by  name.  The  other  was  a  quo  war- 
ranto proceeding,  brought  by  the  attorney-general  against  the 
directors  of  the  principal  municipal  departments  in  Cleve- 
land for  judgments  of  ouster,  —  this  suit  involving  the  con- 
stitutionality of  an  act  of  1891  establishing  the  so-called 
"federal  system"  in  Cleveland. 

The  unanimous  decision  of  the  court  in  these  cases  was 
that  corporate  powers  were  conferred ;  and,  in  contradiction  to 
the  former  rulings,  it  was  held  that  the  statutes  applying 
to  single  cities  were  special  acts,  although  in  form  applying 
to  all  cities  of  a  given  class.  The  argument  was  presented 
most  fully  in  the  Toledo  case  (State  ex  rel.  Kniseley  v.  Jones  0 ; 
and  is  of  special  importance  in  contrast  with  the  doctrine 
laid  down  in  the  former  case  of  State  v.  Pugh.  Says  Judge 
Shauck,  who  wrote  the  opinion  in  all  of  these  cases :  — 

"That  there  has  long  been  classification  of  the  municipalities  of  the 
state  is  true.  It  is  also  true  that  while  most  of  the  acts  conferring 
corporate  powers  upon  separate  municipalities  by  a  classified  descrip- 
tion, instead  of  by  name,  have  been  passed  without  contest  as  to  their 
validity,  such  classification  was  reluctantly  held  by  this  court  to  be 
permissible.  But  attention  to  the  original  classification  and  to  the 
doctrine  upon  which  it  was  sustained,  must  lead  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  doctrine  does  not  sustain  the  classification  involved  in  the 
present  case.  .  .  .  The  judicial  doctrine  of  classification  was  that  all 
the  cities  having  the  same  characteristic  of  a  substantial  equality  of 
population  should  have  the  same  corporate  power,  although  another 
class  might  be  formed  upon  a  substantial  difference  in  population. 
The  classification  now  provided  affords  no  reason  for  the  belief  that  it 
is  based  upon  such  substantial  difference  in  population  as  the  judicial 
doctrine  contemplated.  .  .  . 

"  In  view  of  the  trivial  differences  in  population,  and  of  the  nature 
of  the  powers  conferred,  it  appears  .  .  .  that  the  present  classification 
cannot  be  regarded  as  based  upon  differences  in  population,  or  upon 
any  other  real  or  supposed  differences  in  local  requirements.  Its  real 
basis  is  found  in  the  differing  views  or  interests  of  those  who  promote 
legislation  for  the  different  municipalities  of  the  state.  .  .  .  The  body 
of  legislation  relating  to  this  subject  shows  the  legislative  intent  to 

»  State  V.  Jones,  66  Ohio  St.  453. 


THE   MUNICIPAL   CRISIS   IN   OHIO  101 

substitute  isolation  for  classification,  so  that  all  the  municipalities  of 
the  state  which  are  large  enough  to  attract  attention  shall  be  denied 
the  protection  intended  to  be  afforded  by  this  section  of  the  constitu- 
tion. .  .  . 

"Since  we  cannot  admit  that  legislative  power  is  in  its  nature 
illimitable,  we  must  conclude  that  this  provision  of  the  paramount  law 
annuls  the  acts  relating  to  Cleveland  and  Toledo  if  they  confer  corporate 
power." 

It  is  not  necessary  here  to  follow  the  argument  on  the  ques- 
tion of  conferring  corporate  power.  This  was  shown  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  court,  and  judgment  rendered  accordingly. 

The  decision  in  the  Toledo  and  Cincinnati  cases  simply 
declared  void  new  statutes,  and  left  the  previous  laws  in 
force.  But  in  the  Cleveland  case,  to  have  authorized  imme- 
diate execution  of  the  judgment  would  have  overturned  a 
system  of  ten  years'  standing,  and  left  the  city  with  no  execu- 
tive officials.  The  court  therefore  suspended  execution  in 
order  to  "give  to  those  discharging  the  duties  of  the  other  de- 
partments of  the  government  of  the  state  an  opportunity  to 
take  such  action  as  to  them  may  seem  best,  in  view  of  the 
condition  which  the  execution  of  our  judgment  will  create." 

The  action  which  the  judgment  of  the  court  made  impera- 
tive was  nothing  less  than  the  enactment  of  a  new  municipal 
code  for  all  the  cities  and  villages  in  the  state.  For,  not 
only  could  the  Cleveland  situation  be  remedied  in  no  other 
way,  but  the  principle  laid  down  by  the  court  announced 
the  whole  body  of  municipal  legislation  as  unconstitutional. 
Accordingly  the  governor  summoned  the  general  assembly 
to  meet  in  extraordinary  session  on  August  25,  to  enact  the 
necessary  legislation. 

While  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  was  both  startling, 
and  on  the  whole  unexpected,  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  legis- 
lature was  altogether  unprepared  for  the  situation.  For 
years  the  obvious  evasion  of  the  constitutional  provisions 
had  been  recognized,  both  by  laymen  and  lawyers,  and  serious 
efforts  had  been  made  to  secure  a  general  municipal  code. 

In  1898  there  had  been  created  by  the  legislature  a  com- 


102  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

mission  of  two  lawyers,  differing  in  their  party  allegiance, 
who  were  authorized  to  draft  a  bill.  After  two  years  of  labor, 
this  commission  presented  an  elaborate  measure,  known 
generally  as  the  Pugh-Kibler  code,  from  the  names  of  the 
members  of  the  commission.  This  bill  abolished  the  classifi- 
cation of  cities,  and  established  a  council  of  seven  members 
as  the  legislative  body  in  each  city.  It  separated  legislative 
from  the  administrative  functions,  and  organized  the  ad- 
ministrative authorities  on  the  same  principles  as  govern 
the  federal  administration,  which  had  already  been  applied 
to  some  extent  in  Cleveland  and  Columbus,  Under  this 
scheme  each  municipal  department  was  placed  under  the 
control  of  a  single  official  or  director,  appointed  by  the  mayor. 
The  bill  further  provided  for  a  comprehensive  application 
of  the  merit  system  in  the  appointment  of  all  subordinate 
officers  and  employees,  and  for  the  abolition  of  the  party 
column  in  ballots  for  municipal  elections. 

This  bill  was  introduced  in  the  general  assembly  in  1900, 
and  with  some  amendments  again  in  1902.  But,  although 
endorsed  by  the  state  bar  association,  it  failed  to  receive 
adequate  consideration.  It  must  be  confessed  that  there 
was  little  popular  demand  for  the  radical  changes  in  organi- 
zation proposed ;  but  the  more  potent  obstacle  seems  to  have 
been  the  provisions  for  a  stringent  merit  system  and  for  non- 
partisan elections,  which  were  naturally  not  favored  by  the 
politicians  who  profited  by  the  existing  methods.  There 
was  little  active  debate  on  the  merits  of  the  bill,  but  by 
the  policy  of  neglect  nothing  effective  was  accomplished. 
Nevertheless,  a  well-considered  bill  had  been  prepared  and 
given  some  attention,  and  it  might  have  been  expected  that 
the  principles  of  this  measure  would  have  received  serious 
consideration  when  the  question  was  forced  on  the  legislature 
at  its  special  session. 

In  the  interval  before  the  general  assembly  came  together, 
the  governor  took  the  lead  in  framing  a  bill  which  became 
the  text  for  discussions  in  the  legislature.    This  activity  of 


THE   MUNICIPAL   CRISIS   IN    OfflO  103 

the  governor  in  framing  legislation  marks  a  striking  excep- 
tion to  the  theory  of  the  separation  of  legislative  and  ex- 
ecutive powers,  and  a  notable  departure  from  the  older 
American  practice,  the  more  significant  because  in  Ohio  the 
governor  did  not  then  possess  the  veto  power. 

The  governor  consulted  with  a  number  of  Republican  mem- 
bers of  the  legislature  from  different  cities  in  the  state,  but 
this  included  no  representation  from  either  Cleveland  or 
Columbus,  while  the  most  active  part  in  framing  the  governor's 
bill  was  taken  by  legislators  and  city  officials  from  Cincinnati. 
The  result  was  a  bill  framed  to  a  large  extent  on  the  existing 
organization  in  Cincinnati,  an  organization  which  had  been 
the  outcome  of  heterogeneous  piecemeal  legislation,  and  had 
never  been  considered  elsewhere  as  a  model,  or  even  as  a  con- 
sistent system  of  municipal  government. 

One  feature  of  the  Cincinnati  government,  which  it  was 
understood  the  governor  wished  to  extend,  was  early  aban- 
doned, but  only  to  reappear  under  another  form  in  the  code 
finally  adopted.  This  was  the  control  of  the  police  by  a 
bi-partisan  board  appointed  by  the  governor.  Instead,  a 
bi-partisan  board  of  public  safety,  appointed  by  the  mayor, 
was  provided  to  have  control  of  the  police  and  fire-depart- 
ments. Each  city  was  also  to  have  an  elected  board  of  public 
service,  to  have  charge  of  public  works,  health,  charitable 
institutions,  and  libraries.  Other  officers  were  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  mayor,  except  the  treasurer  and  auditor. 
The  council  was  to  have  a  small  proportion  of  its  members 
elected  on  a  general  ticket.  All  of  the  city  officials,  except 
members  of  the  board  of  public  safety,  were  to  have  three- 
year  terms,  and  to  be  chosen  at  the  triennial  spring  election. 
This  scheme  of  organization  was  to  be  established  in  every 
city  in  the  state,  and  every  municipal  corporation  of  over 
5000  population  was  to  be  a  city. 

When  the  general  assembly  met,  the  governor's  bill  was 
promptly  introduced  in  both  houses.  The  Senate  proceeded 
to  consider  it  in  committee  of  the  whole,  and  after  a  very 


104  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

cursory  discussion  passed  the  bill  with  a  few  minor  amend- 
ments, on  September  30.  The  House,  however,  showed 
a  more  thorough  appreciation  of  its  duties,  and  gave  more 
serious  consideration  to  the  measure.  A  committee  of  twenty- 
two  members  was  appointed,  which  held  public  sessions  for 
more  than  two  weeks,  at  which  city  officials  and  others  inter- 
ested presented  their  opinions;  after  which  the  committee 
framed  a  bill  of  its  own  differing  in  important  respects  from 
that  of  the  governor. 

The  most  important  changes  to  be  noted  were  the  substitu- 
tion of  single  directors,  to  be  elected  by  popular  vote,  in 
place  of  the  boards  of  public  safety  and  of  public  service, 
and  provisions  for  the  application  of  the  merit  system  in 
the  selection  of  the  members  of  the  police  and  fire  depart- 
ments. Other  bills  had  also  been  introduced:  one  providing 
for  the  "federal  system"  of  organization,  as  in  the  Pugh- 
Kibler  code;  and  another,  supported  by  the  state  chamber 
of  commerce,  authorized  each  city  to  frame  its  own  charter 
in  a  local  convention.  The  latter  measure  was  said  to  con- 
flict with  the  constitutional  provision  requiring  the  legisla- 
ture to  provide  for  the  organization  of  municipalities.  The 
"federal  system"  did  not  find  favor  with  the  majority, 
mainly  on  account  of  political  conditions.  The  two  cities 
where  some  features  of  this  plan  were  in  operation  (Cleve- 
land and  Columbus)  had  elected  Democratic  mayors;  and 
although  leading  Cleveland  Republicans  upheld  the  system, 
there  was  apparently  an  undercurrent  of  feeling  that  in  some 
way  its  general  adoption  might  strengthen  the  Democratic 
party.  More  specifically  the  Republican  leaders  were  believed 
to  be  anxious  to  weaken  the  political  influence  of  the  mayor 
of  Cleveland,  who  had  become  the  leader  of  the  Democrats 
throughout  the  state.  This  injection  of  state  and  national 
politics  prevented  any  fair  consideration  of  the  "  federal 
plan"  on  its  merits  as  a  system  of  municipal  government. 

On  October  7,  the  bill  of  the  House  committee,  amended 
somewhat  in  the  House,  was  passed  by  that  body.     Owing 


THE   MUNICIPAL    CRISIS   IN    OHIO  105 

to  the  important  differences  between  the  bills  as  passed  by 
the  Senate  and  House,  a  conference  committee  was  appointed. 
Here  for  two  weeks  the  proposed  code  was  further  discussed; 
and,  contrary  to  the  usual  custom  of  conference  committees, 
the  sessions  were  for  the  most  part  public,  in  the  sense  that 
newspaper  representatives  were  present  and  the  proceedings 
and  conclusions  were  published  from  day  to  day.  The  pro- 
ceedings showed  an  astonishing  lack  of  consistency  on  the 
part  of  the  conference  committee.  The  House  bill  was  taken 
as  the  foundation  of  their  work,  but  this  was  freely  amended 
and  reamended.  Votes  taken  on  a  particular  section  were 
often  reconsidered ;  and  some  sections  were  completely  recast, 
not  only  once,  but  several  times,  on  entirely  distinct  lines. 
Rumors  of  outside  influences  at  work  were  freely  circulated; 
and  in  particular  a  United  States  senator  and  the  Republican 
^*boss"  of  Cincinnati  were  alleged  to  have  dictated  the  final 
form  of  the  measure.  Finally  the  conference  committee 
made  its  report,  and  on  October  22,  the  code  became  law. 
The  final  vote  in  the  Senate,  21  to  12,  was  strictly  on  party 
lines.  In  the  House,  three  Democrats  voted  for  the  bill,  and 
the  vote  stood  65  to  34.  The  opposition  of  the  Democrats 
prevented  the  enactment  of  new  provisions  for  municipal 
courts,  as  under  the  Ohio  constitution  legislation  establishing 
judicial  courts  requires  the  affirmative  vote  of  two-thirds 
of  the  members  of  each  house. 

As  adopted,  the  municipal  code  contains  most  of  the  features 
of  the  governor's  bill,  but  with  some  serious  alterations  and 
considerable  additions.  The  council  in  each  city  will  be  a 
single  house,  the  number  of  members  varying  with  the  popu- 
lation, elected  partly  by  wards  and  partly  on  general  ticket. 
The  elective  officers  consist  of  a  mayor,  president  of  the  coun- 
cil, treasurer,  auditor,  solicitor,  and  a  board  of  public  service 
of  three  or  five  members.  All  of  these  are  chosen  for  two- 
year  terms,  except  the  auditor,  whose  tenure  is  for  three  years.* 

*  The  auditor's  term  has  since  been  changed  to  two  years  and  all  the 
elective  officers  are  chosen  at  the  same  time. 


106  ESSAYS    IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

Other  officers  provided  for  by  the  code  are  to  be  appointed 
by  the  mayor,  but  subject  to  varying  restrictions.  The 
board  of  pubHc  safety  of  two  or  four  members  must  be  bi- 
partisan, and  the  mayor's  nominations  must  be  confirmed 
by  two-thirds  of  the  council,  failing  which  the  governor  of 
the  state  is  to  make  the  appointments.  This  board  is  to 
make  contracts  and  rules  for  the  police  and  fire  departments ; 
and  is  also  to  act  as  a  merit  commission  to  examine  candidates 
and  prepare  eligible  lists  for  positions  in  these  departments. 
From  these  lists  of  eligibles,  the  mayor  is  to  make  appoint- 
ments and  promotions.  The  board  of  health  is  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  mayor  with  the  confirmation  of  the  council. 
A  sinking  fund  and  tax  commission  of  four  members  and  a 
library  board  of  six  members  are  to  be  appointed  by  the 
mayor.  The  mayor  will  have  a  limited  veto  power,  which 
may  be  overridden  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  council.  The 
board  of  public  service  will  have  complete  charge  of  all  public 
works  and  municipal  improvements,  including  the  power 
to  make  contracts,  to'  determine  its  own  subordinates,  fix 
their  salaries  and  make  appointments,  subject  only  to  the 
council's  power  to  limit  appropriations. 

This  scheme  of  organization,  which  went  into  effect  in 
April,  1903,  applied  uniformly  to  all  the  seventy-two  cities 
of  over  5000  population.  The  organization  of  villages  was 
left  very  much  as  under  the  former  law. 

A  critical  examination  of  the  code  enacted  reveals  some 
features  to  be  commended  as  improvements  over  the  preced- 
ing conditions  in  Ohio,  but  also  shows  many  points  of  weak- 
ness; and  on  the  whole  the  code  fails  to  establish  a  satis- 
factory permanent  system  of  municipal  government. 

The  changes  for  the  better  may  be  first  noted.  Of  these, 
the  most  important  is  clearly  the  advantage  of  a  uniform 
general  system  over  the  complicated  variety  of  statutory 
provisions  enacted  under  the  former  schemes  of  classifica- 
tion. The  law  of  municipal  corporations  in  Ohio  is  now  dis- 
tinctly simpler  and  more  intelligible;  the  principal  municipal 


THE   MUNICIPAL   CRISIS   IN    OHIO  107 

oflBcers  and  their  functions  will  be  the  same  in  each  city; 
and  the  bulk  of  municipal  legislation  has  been  greatly  re- 
duced. While  the  general  powers  conferred  on  cities  do  not 
authorize  any  experiments,  every  city  in  the  state  may  now 
exercise  all  the  powers  which  have  been  assumed  in  any  city. 
Thus  municipal  lighting  plants  and  municipal  universities 
are  within  the  scope  of  any  city  without  further  legislative 
action.  In  the  organization  provided,  the  plan  for  electing 
some  members  of  the  municipal  councils  at  large  offers  an 
opportunity  for  strengthening  that  branch  of  the  municipal 
government.  Defective  as  is  the  board  system  established, 
it  is  also  true  that  the  board  of  public  service  does  in  some 
cities  absorb  the  functions  of  several  existing  boards,  and 
thus  to  some  extent  simplifies  the  municipal  organization. 
And  the  limited  provision  for  the  application  of  the  merit 
system,  ineffective  as  it  seems  likely  to  prove,  is  at  least  a 
slight  concession  to  the  demand  for  a  more  stable  municipal 
service  free  from  the  influence  of  the  spoils  system. 

But  when  these  improvements  have  been  noted,  there 
remains  a  much  longer  list  of  indefensible  features  and  neg- 
lected opportunities.  The  broadest  charge  made  against 
the  code  is  that  it  does  not  grant  an  adequate  measure  of 
home  rule;  but  this  charge  is  too  indefinite,  and  must  be 
made  more  specific  and  discriminating.  Extreme  advocates 
of  municipal  independence  will  probably  urge  that  the  whole 
question  of  municipal  organization  should  be  left  for  each 
city  to  determine  for  itself;  and  that  in  place  of  a  list  of  enu- 
merated powers  each  city  should  have  unlimited  authority 
to  undertake  any  function  it  pleases.  But  apart  from  the 
question  of  policy,  certain  legal  facts  stood  in  the  way  of 
any  such  proposals.  On  the  one  point,  there  were  and  are 
strong  grounds  for  believing  that  the  mandatory  provisions 
of  the  Ohio  constitution  requiring  the  legislature  to  provide 
for  the  organization  of  municipalities  prohibits  any  delega- 
tion of  organizing  powers  to  the  cities.  On  the  other  point, 
stands  a  long  line  of  judicial  decisions  limiting  municipal 


108  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

powers  to  those  expressly  granted  by  statute.  Under  these 
circumstances,  if  a  wisely  devised  scheme  of  organization 
had  been  provided,  with  an  ample  list  of  specified  powers  and 
the  selection  of  officers  left  to  each  city,  the  code  would  have 
met  all  reasonable  requirements  for  municipal  home  rule. 

But  these  conditions  are,  in  fact,  far  from  being  fulfilled. 
The  specific  powers  granted  are  not  adequate  to  modern 
conditions.  In  particular,  there  is  no  authority  under  which 
a  city  can  assume  the  ownership  and  operation  of  street  rail- 
ways or  other  undertakings  requiring  the  use  of  the  public 
streets;  for,  without  advocating  municipal  ownership  as  a 
general  rule,  it  may  safely  be  said  that  each  city  should  have 
the  power,  under  suitable  restrictions,  to  determine  such 
questions  for  itself.  The  rule  for  local  selection  of  officers 
meets  with  a  serious  exception  in  the  provisions  in  reference 
to  the  board  of  safety,  which  were  obviously  adopted  for 
distinctly  partisan  purposes.  When  the  mayor's  nomina- 
tions for  this  board  are  not  confirmed  by  a  two-thirds  vote 
of  the  council,  the  governor  is  to  make  the  appointments. 
Apparently,  the  sole  purpose  of  this  provision  is  to  give  a 
Republican  governor  the  power  of  appointing  these  boards  in 
Democratic  cities;  as  it  is  believed  that  the  Republicans  will 
have  at  least  one-third  of  the  members  of  the  councils  in 
these  cities,  and  thus  be  able  to  prevent  confirmation  of  the 
mayor's  nominations.  A  device  of  this  kind  cannot  be  de- 
fended, and  is  sufficient  in  itself  to  warrant  severe  criticism 
of  the  code.  And  this  attitude  is  taken  with  a  full  admission 
of  the  fact  that  police  affairs  are  not  only  of  local,  but  also  of 
general,  interest,  justifying  state  supervision.  But  that  super- 
vision should  be  extended  to  all  localities  on  a  uniform  basis, 
and  in  accordance  with  the  principles  followed  in  the  state 
supervision  of  local  school  and  health  authorities. 

When  the  scheme  of  municipal  organization  provided  in 
the  code  is  examined  in  detail,  it  can  be  seen  at  once  that 
little  or  nothing  has  been  adopted  from  recent  discussions 
or  from  recent  legislation  in  other  states  dealing  with  this 


THE   MUNICIPAL   CRISIS  IN   OHIO  109 

problem.  The  list  of  elective  officers  is  too  numerous  to 
permit  the  voters,  especially  in  a  large  city,  to  learn  the  quali- 
fications of  the  various  candidates;  and  the  result  will  inevi- 
tably be  the  continuation  of  party  tickets  and  party  voting. 
The  number  of  elective  officers  also  prevents  the  concentra- 
tion of  responsibility  for  the  municipal  administration  as 
a  whole.  The  diffusion  of  responsibility  is  more  thorough 
by  the  complicated  system  of  boards  for  the  various  branches 
of  administration,  while  there  is  a  complete  absence  of  any 
method  for  securing  the  harmonious  cooperation  of  the  vari- 
ous departmental  officers.  It  will  be  noted  that  there  is  not 
even  a  uniform  system  of  boards  established,  but  the  differ- 
ent boards  represent  almost  every  conceivable  method  of 
board  organization.  The  board  of  public  safety,  in  particular, 
is  a  strange  creation.  Combining  as  it  does  the  power  to 
make  contracts  and  to  act  as  a  merit  commission,  it  is  almost 
certain  that  the  latter  function  will  be  subordinated  to  the 
former,  and  it  is  very  doubtful  if  the  provisions  for  a  merit 
system  of  appointments  will  be  effectively  executed.  More- 
over, these  provisions  apply  only  to  the  police  and  fire  depart- 
ments; and  all  other  branches  of  the  municipal  service  are 
left  entirely  free  to  the  continuation  of  the  spoils  system. 

Two  motives  seem  to  have  played  the  leading  part  in  bring- 
ing about  these  results.  On  the  one  hand,  the  political 
powers  in  Cincinnati  wished  to  preserve  the  machinery  in 
operation  in  that  city  as  much  as  possible,  since  they  knew 
how  it  worked  and  how  it  could  be  controlled.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  alleged  desire  to  weaken  the  political  influence  of 
the  mayor  of  Cleveland  roused  opposition  to  any  suggestions 
in  the  direction  of  concentrating  power  and  responsibility 
in  the  hands  of  the  mayor. 


VI 

MUNICIPAL  CODES   IN  THE  MIDDLE  WEST* 

In  every  country  the  organization  and  powers  of  municipal 
corporations  have  at  first  been  regulated  by  special  laws  or 
charters  for  each  community.  But  in  the  course  of  time 
the  tendency  has  been  to  establish  a  general  and  more  or  less 
uniform  system  within  each  organized  government.  Thus 
in  ancient  history  the  early  self-constituted  city  governments 
in  the  Italian  peninsula  were  reorganized  after  the  extension 
of  the  Roman  dominion,  about  the  time  of  Sulla,  and  the 
main  features  of  this  municipal  system  were  later  extended 
throughout  the  Roman  Empire.  After  the  breakdown  of 
that  empire,  special  charters  again  appeared  throughout 
western  Europe.  But  since  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century 
these  have  been  replaced  in  practically  all  the  European 
countries  by  general  municipal  codes.  France  led  the  way 
in  this  movement,  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution.  Prussia 
followed  this  example  in  1808  and  England  in  1835.  Other 
countries  have  one  after  another  adopted  the  same  method 
of  procedure. 

Special  charters  and  special  acts  of  the  legislatures  were 
the  only  methods  of  organizing  municipal  government  in  the 
United  States  until  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
In  1851  the  second  constitution  of  the  state  of  Ohio  began 
the  attempt  to  secure  general  laws  by  prohibiting  special 
legislation.  Other  states  adopted  similar  provisions  in  their 
constitutions,  at  first  slowly,  but  more  rapidly  since  1870. 
And  now  most  of  the  states  attempt  in  one  way  or  another 
to  prohibit  or  restrict  special  legislation  on  municipal  govern- 
ment.   A  few,  however,  such  as  Massachusetts  and  Michigan, 

*  Reprinted  from  the  Political  Science  Quarterly,  XXI,  434  (Septem- 
ber, 1906). 

110 


MUNICIPAL    CODES   IN   THE   MIDDLE   WEST  111 

have  no  constitutional  restrictions,  and  special  charters  are 
still  openly  and  freely  enacted. 

But  even  in  most  of  the  states  where  special  legislation  is 
prohibited  there  have  been  no  comprehensive  systems  of 
municipal  organization  established.  By  the  device  of  classi- 
fication, laws  general  in  form  have  been  enacted,  which,  in 
fact,  applied  only  to  single  cities.  Until  within  a  few  years 
such  laws  have  been  generally  accepted  as  complying  with 
the  constitutional  provisions.  As  a  result,  there  is  nothing 
approaching  uniformity  or  system  in  the  government  of 
cities  in  most  of  the  states.  And  for  the  country  as  a  whole 
the  diversities  have  been  so  numerous  and  so  far-reaching 
that  any  attempt  to  describe  the  typical  American  municipal 
organization  has  been  impossible. 

A  few  states,  however,  are  now  exceptions  to  this  rule. 
Three  of  these  are  the  neighboring  states  of  Illinois,  Ohio, 
and  Indiana,  forming  a  compact  group  in  the  central  part 
of  the  country.  The  Illinois  law  was  enacted  in  1872,  and 
was  probably  the  first  effective  municipal  code  in  the  United 
States.  Ohio  and  Indiana  have  also  had  nominal  codes  for 
a  long  time;  but  the  schemes  of  classification  were  so  highly 
developed  as  to  prevent  any  general  system  of  organization. 
But  within  a  few  years  both  of  these  states  have  enacted 
new  municipal  codes  establishing  a  general  plan.  This 
recent  legislation  suggests  a  comparative  study  of  the  codes 
of  the  three  states.  While  these  states  agree  in  the  method 
of  dealing  with  the  problem,  and  while  the  systems  adopted 
have  some  features  in  common,  illustrating  present  ten- 
dencies throughout  the  United  States,  there  are  also  many 
and  wide  divergencies  which  show  the  absence  of  any  con- 
sensus of  opinion  on  this  question  among  American  legisla- 
tors. 

ILLINOIS 

The  Illinois  Cities  and  Villages  Act  is  said  to  have  been 
drafted  by  the  late  Judge  M.  F.  Tuley,  of  Chicago.  At  the 
time  of  its  enactment  it  was  undoubtedly  the  best  and  most 


112  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

successful  measure  on  the  subject  of  municipal  government 
that  had  been  adopted  in  the  United  States.  It  has  been 
amended  from  time  to  time,  but  its  main  features  have  been 
unaltered.  And  while  it  has  proven  inadequate  to  meet 
some  of  the  conditions  that  have  since  developed,  it  still 
contains  much  that  is  worthy  of  study  by  the  legislators  of 
other  states. 

A  comparatively  simple  and  elastic  plan  of  municipal 
organization  is  provided  by  this  act.  In  every  city  there 
must  be  elected  a  city  council,  a  mayor,  a  city  clerk,  a  city 
attorney,  and  a  city  treasurer.  Other  officers  may  be  created 
by  the  city  council  as  needed. 

Members  of  the  council  are  elected  by  wards,  two  from 
each  ward,  for  a  term  of  two  years,  one  alderman  from  each 
ward  retiring  each  year.  Their  number  varies  from  six  to 
seventy,  according  to  the  size  of  the  city.  The  powers  of 
the  council  include  a  long  list  of  enumerated  subjects  of 
police  regulation,  such  as  is  usual  in  city  charters;  the  power 
of  making  appropriations  and  a  limited  power  of  taxation; 
and  the  unusual  power  to  create  municipal  offices.  The 
latter  power  requires  a  two-thirds  vote  of  all  the  members 
of  the  council,  and  offices  so  created  may  be  abolished  only 
by  a  similar  vote  at  the  end  of  a  fiscal  year.  This  restriction 
and  the  provisions  by  which  the  council  cannot  itself  make 
appointments  to  offices  has  prevented  any  abuse  of  the  power 
to  create  offices.  The  control  over  appropriations  is  also 
an  important  power  actively  exercised  by  the  council,  in  the 
large  cities  mainly  through  the  finance  committee.  These 
two  special  powers  make  the  councils  of  Illinois  cities  much 
more  important  factors  in  the  municipal  organization  than  in 
other  American  cities. 

But  the  mayor  also  has  important  powers.  He  is  elected 
for  two  years,*  presides  over  the  city  council,  has  the  usual 
limited  veto  power,  and  has  large  authority  over  the  ap- 

•  By  a  special  law  passed  under  the  recent  constitutional  amendment 
the  mayor  of  Chicago  is  now  elected  for  four  years. 


MUNICIPAL   CODES  IN   THE   MIDDLE   WEST  113 

pointment  and  control  of  the  city  officers.  His  appoint- 
ments to  office  must  be  confirmed  by  the  council,  but  usually 
this  confirmation  has  been  given  without  question,  and  in 
Chicago,  at  least  generally,  without  even  reference  to  a  com- 
mittee. His  control  over  the  appointed  officers  is  further 
established  by  his  large  power  of  removal.  This  is  not 
entirely  unlimited,  as  he  is  required  to  file  the  reasons  for 
removal  with  the  council,  and  if  he  fails  to  do  so,  or  if  the 
council  by  a  two-thirds  vote  disapproves  of  the  removal,  the 
officer  is  reinstated.  But  these  restrictions  are  not  likely 
to  be  effective  except  in  the  case  of  a  gross  abuse  of  the 
removal  power;  and  in  fact  the  mayor  has  a  very  substantial 
control  over  the  city  officers,  and  can  be  held  responsible  for 
the  conduct  of  the  administrative  branch  of  the  city  govern- 
ment. 

Popular  election  of  the  city  clerk,  city  attorney,  and  city 
treasurer  shows  the  influence  of  the  earlier  movement  for  the 
election  of  all  city  officers.  At  the  time  the  Illinois  law  was 
enacted,  this  was  a  smaller  number  of  elective  officers  than 
was  common  in  most  American  cities.  But  at  present  the 
trend  of  intelligent  opinion  on  municipal  organization  would 
favor  making  at  least  the  clerk  and  attorney  appointive  in 
the  interest  of  administrative  efficiency.  In  fact,  Chicago 
and  perhaps  other  cities  have  established  the  appointive 
office  of  corporation  counsel,  and  the  office  of  city  attorney 
has  become  of  little  importance. 

The  most  serious  weakness  of  the  Illinois  law  is  the  narrow 
limit  placed  on  the  power  of  taxation,  which  has  prevented 
the  city  governments  from  developing  their  activity  to  meet 
the  needs  of  increased  population.  This  has,  in  turn,  promoted 
the  tendency  to  create  by  additional  legislation  special  au- 
thorities independent  of  the  city  governments  to  undertake 
certain  local  works,  which  might  better  have  been  intrusted 
to  the  city  corporation.  Thus,  not  only  boards  of  education, 
but  library  boards,  park  boards,  and  the  sanitary  trustees 
in  Cook  County  are  separate  corporations,  adding  greatly  to 


114  ESSAYS  IN  MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

the  complexity  of  local  government,  tending  to  confuse  the 
voters  with  a  multiplicity  of  elective  officers  and  reducing 
the  effective  responsibility  to  the  community  of  these  special 
officials. 

Chicago  has  suffered  most  from  the  limitation  on  financial 
powers  and  the  multiplication  of  authorities.  With  forty 
times  the  population  of  any  other  city  in  the  state,  the  met- 
ropolitan community  has  had  to  meet  problems  that  have 
not  begun  to  arise  in  the  smaller  cities.  The  unsatisfactory 
local  situation,  with  the  difficulty  of  securing  adequate  changes 
in  the  general  law,  has  led  to  the  adoption  of  a  constitutional 
amendment  authorizing  special  legislation  for  Chicago,  subject 
to  approval  by  a  referendum  vote.* 

Doubtless  some  special  provisions  are  almost  necessary  for 
a  city  so  vastly  different  as  is  Chicago  from  the  others  in  the 
state.  But  many  of  the  difficulties  affect  the  smaller  places 
only  in  a  less  degree;  and  many  of  the  changes  to  be  made 
ought  to  be  made  in  the  general  law.  And  it  is  to  be  regretted 
that  the  ability  of  Illinois  legislators  has  so  far  declined 
and  they  seem  unable  to  perfect  and  adapt  to  modern  con- 
ditions the  excellent  law  that  was  passed  over  thirty  years 
ago. 

OHIO 

The  second  constitution  of  Ohio,  adopted  in  1851,  made 
the  first  attempt  in  the  United  States  to  prohibit  special 
legislation  for  cities  and  to  require  the  establishment  of  a 
general  system  of  municipal  organization.  But  by  the  de- 
vice of  classifying  cities  on  the  basis  of  poptilation,  all  the 
larger  cities  in  the  state  had  many  peculiar  factors  in  their 
municipal  government,  established  by  laws  which,  in  fact, 
applied  only  to  single  cities.  And  for  over  fifty  years  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  state  accepted  laws  of  this  kind,  general 

*  A  new  charter  for  Chicago,  framed  by  a  local  commission,  was  passed, 
with  some  amendments,  at  the  last  session  of  the  legislature,  only  to  be 
defeated  at  the  referendum  vote  in  September,  1907. 


MUNICIPAL   CODES  IN   THE   MIDDLE   WEST  115 

in  form,  but  special  in  their  application,  as  complying  with 
the  constitutional  provisions.^ 

In  1902,  however,  the  Supreme  Court  practically  reversed 
its  former  attitude  and  held  that  the  whole  body  of  legislation 
on  municipal  government  disclosed  the  legislative  intent  to 
substitute  isolation  for  classification.  Certain  acts  brought 
before  the  court  were  declared  unconstitutional,  and  the 
opinion  showed  that  most  of  the  legislation  on  cities  would  be 
held  unconstitutional  if  brought  before  it.^  This  situation 
led  to  a  special  session  of  the  state  legislature,  which  enacted 
a  new  municipal  code  for  all  the  cities  and  villages  in  Ohio. 
In  framing  the  original  draft  of  the  bill.  Governor  Bushnell 
took  an  active  part ;  and  in  the  work  of  the  conference  com- 
mittee to  decide  conflicts  between  the  two  houses,  the  final 
determination  was  said  to  have  been  due  in  large  measure  to 
the  influence  of  a  United  States  senator  and  the  leader  of 
the  then  dominant  political  organization  in  Cincinnati. 

The  Ohio  code  is  much  more  detailed  than  the  Illinois  law. 
It  provides  a  numerous  and  complicated  list  of  elective  offices, 
burdensome  to  the  small  cities,  and  with  a  lack  of  effective 
organization  and  clearly  defined  responsibility. 

Cities  are  defined  as  municipal  corporations  of  over  5000 
population,  and  the  same  organization  is  applied  to  all  the 
seventy-two  cities  in  the  state.  The  city  council  consists  of 
a  single  chamber,  the  number  of  members  varying  with  the 
population.  The  larger  number  of  members  are  elected  by 
wards,  each  electing  one  councilman;  but  a  small  number 
are  also  elected  on  a  general  ticket  for  the  whole  city.  The 
powers  of  the  council  are  restricted  to  those  of  a  legislative 
character;  and  it  is  expressly  provided  that  it  shall  perform 
no  administrative  duties  and  exercise  no  appointing  power, 
except  in  regard  to  its  own  organization  and  in  confirming 
nominations  to  certain  positions  named  in  the  act.     The 

»  State  V.  Pugh,  43  Ohio  St.  98. 

'  State  V.  Jones,  66  Ohio  St.  453. 

'Wade  H.  Ellis,  The  Municipal  Code  of  Ohio. 


116  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

powers  granted  include  authority  to  enact  police  ordinances, 
to  vote  appropriations  and  taxes,  to  determine  the  number 
of  members  on  certain  municipal  boards,  and  to  fix  the  salaries 
and  bonds  of  the  statutory  municipal  officers.  But  there  is 
no  power  to  create  municipal  officers  similar  to  that  in  the 
Illinois  law;  and  even  the  establishment  of  minor  positions 
is  given  to  the  executive  officers.  It  may  by  a  two-thirds 
vote  remove  officers  after  a  trial  on  definite  charges. 

The  mayor  is  elected  for  a  term  of  two  years.  He  has  a 
limited  veto  power  and  a  very  restricted  power  over  the 
selection  of  officials.  Most  of  the  important  officers  are 
elective;  but  the  mayor  nominates,  subject  to  the  confirma- 
tion of  the  council,  members  of  the  boards  of  public  safety 
and  health,  and  appoints  the  members  of  the  tax  commission 
and  the  library  board.  It  is  made  his  duty  to  have  a  general 
supervision  over  all  departments  and  city  officers;  but  he 
has  no  power  of  removal  or  any  other  effective  means  of 
control  over  their  actions.  The  narrow  range  of  his  authority 
is  further  indicated  by  the  provision  which  vests  executive 
power,  not  in  the  mayor,  but  in  the  fist  of  elective  and  ap- 
pointed executive  officers. 

Other  elective  officers  are  the  treasurer,  auditor,  solicitor, 
and  the  board  of  public  service,  all  elected  for  two  years.  The 
board  of  public  service  is  the  most  significant  of  these.  It 
consists  of  three  or  five  members;  and  has  charge  of  streets, 
sewers,  and  other  public  improvements,  of  municipal  water 
and  lighting  plants,  parks,  markets,  cemeteries,  and  of  all 
charitable  and  correctional  institutions. 

Of  the  appointed  officers,  the  board  of  public  safety  is 
provided  for  in  a  very  peculiar  way.  This  is  a  bi-partisan 
board  of  two  or  four  members,  having  supervision  over  the 
police  and  fire  departments.  Its  members  are  appointed  on 
the  nomination  of  the  mayor  subject  to  the  confirmation  of 
two-thirds  of  the  council,  and  failing  this  confirmation,  ap- 
pointments are  made  by  the  governor  of  the  state.  This 
method  was  apparently  adopted  for  political  purposes,  and 


MUNICIPAL   CODES   IN   THE   MIDDLE   WEST  117 

under  it  the  boards  of  public  safety  in  about  a  dozen  cities 
have  been  appointed  by  the  governor. 

The  board  of  tax  commissioners  is  also  a  bi-partisan  body, 
consisting  of  four  members  appointed  by  the  mayor,  serving 
without  compensation.  To  this  board  are  referred  the  tax 
levies  ordered  by  the  council  to  cover  its  appropriations,  and 
if  it  disapproves  any  item  of  the  appropriation,  the  tax  levy 
must  be  reduced,  unless  the  action  of  the  board  is  overruled 
by  a  three-fourths  vote  of  all  the  members  of  the  council. 
The  board  also  acts  as  a  sinking-fund  commission. 

By  establishing  a  general  system  of  municipal  organization 
and  uniform  powers,  this  code  makes  the  law  of  municipal 
corporations  in  Ohio  much  simpler  and  more  intelligible  than 
formerly.  The  volume  of  legislation  on  municipal  govern- 
ment is  greatly  reduced,  and  litigation  to  determine  the 
meaning  or  constitutionality  of  disputed  points  is  also  lessened, 
since  a  decision  for  one  city  determines  the  point  for  all. 
The  scope  of  municipal  activities  has  not  been  enlarged,  but 
every  city  may,  without  further  legislative  action,  exercise  all 
the  powers  that  have  been  granted  to  any  one. 

In  the  organization  of  the  council  the  plan  of  electing  some 
members  at  large  offers  an  opportunity  for  strengthening  that 
branch  of  the  municipal  government.  But  the  system  of 
artificial  and  changeable  wards  is  also  retained,  with  its 
opportunities  for  gerrymandering.  The  board  of  public 
service  absorbs  the  functions  formerly  given  in  many  cities 
to  a  number  of  boards,  and  thus  simplifies  to  some  extent 
the  municipal  organization.^  But  it  may  be  questioned 
whether  in  the  large  cities  this  has  not  placed  in  one  depart- 
ment too  many  unrelated  services.  The  provisions  authoriz- 
ing the  merit  system  in  the  police  and  fire  departments  are 

^The  board  of  public  service  bears  a  slight  resemblance  to  some  fea- 
tures of  the  "  commission  plan  "  recently  authorized  in  Texas,  Kansas, 
and  Iowa,  in  concentrating  administrative  powers  in  the  hands  of  a 
small  board.  But  in  Ohio,  the  mayor  and  council  still  remain  with  some 
powers ;  and,  in  contrast  with  the  Iowa  law,  the  boards  in  Ohio  cities  are 
elected  on  party  tickets,  with  free  scope  for  patronage  appointments. 


118  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

at  least  a  slight  concession  to  the  demand  for  eliminating 
spoils  politics  from  the  municipal  service. 

But  in  other  respects  this  code  is  open  to  serious  criticism. 
The  number  of  municipal  officers  required  in  all  cities  is  too 
cumbersome  for  many  of  the  small  cities,  and  the  city  council 
might  well  have  been  given  authority  to  create  offices  as 
needed,  as  in  the  Illinois  law.  The  number  of  elective  officers 
is  too  large  to  permit  the  voters  to  learn  the  qualifications 
of  the  various  candidates,  and  this  tends  to  reduce  popular 
control  and  increase  the  influence  of  party  organizations.  The 
variety  in  the  methods  of  filling  various  offices  prevents  the 
concentration  of  responsibility,  and  in  particular  the  au- 
thority of  the  mayor  is  inadequate.  No  provision  is  made 
for  the  merit  system  for  the  larger  proportion  of  municipal 
employees,  who  are  placed  imder  the  control  of  the  board  of 
public  service. 

Since  this  code  was  adopted,  there  have  been  two  sessions 
of  the  Ohio  legislature.  At  each  of  these  some  minor  amend- 
ments have  been  passed.  The  most  important  is  the  change 
in  the  date  of  municipal  elections  from  April  to  November 
in  the  odd  years.  By  changing  the  date  of  state  elections  in 
the  future  to  the  even  years,  municipal  elections  will  be 
kept  distinct  from  state  and  national  elections;  and  with 
that  provision  there  is  perhaps  some  advantage  in  having 
all  elections  come  in  the  fall.  During  the  session  of  1906  an 
effort  was  made  to  make  some  more  important  changes  in  the 
system  of  organization,  especially  by  increasing  the  powers  of 
the  mayor.    But  nothing  was  accomplished. 

INDIANA 

In  1905  a  general  revision  of  the  Indiana  municipal  law  was 
enacted  by  the  legislature  of  that  state.  There  was  little 
public  discussion,  and  apparently  no  partisan  motives  affected 
the  measure.  The  code  as  enacted  simplifies  somewhat  the 
system  of  organization,  and  applies  to  all  but  the  smallest 
places  the  centralized  plan  of  mayoralty  control  which  had 
been  previously  established  in  the  larger  cities. 


MUNiaPAL  CODES  IN   THE   MIDDLE   WEST  119 

One  of  the  most  important  changes  was  the  abolition  of 
spring  city  elections  and  the  extension  of  the  terms  of  city 
officers  from  two  to  fom*  years.  The  terms  of  officers  which 
would  have  expired  in  the  spring  of  1905  were  continued 
until  the  following  January;  and,  beginning  in  1905,  an 
election  will  be  held  for  city  officers  in  November  of  every 
fourth  year.  While  spring  elections  are  abolished,  municipal 
elections  are  not  combined  with  state  and  national  elections, 
but,  as  in  Ohio,  come  in  an  intervening  year.  Another  pro- 
vision making  all  elective  officers  ineligible  for  two  terms  in 
succession  will,  however,  hinder  the  development  of  a  con- 
tinuous policy  and  seems  entirely  uncalled  for,  at  least  in 
the  case  of  the  members  of  the  councils  and  the  city  clerk. 

Municipal  corporations  are  divided  into  two  main  classes: 
incorporated  towns  and  cities.  Any  community  may  by 
popular  vote  be  incorporated  as  a  town;  any  community 
with  more  than  2500  population  may  become  a  city ;  and  both 
cities  and  towns  may  be  dissolved  by  popular  vote. 

A  very  simple  system  of  organization  is  provided  for  the 
incorporated  towns.  Provision  is  made  for  the  election  of 
a  board  of  trustees  of  three  to  seven  members,  one  for  each 
ward,  but  all  elected  at  large ;  also  for  the  election  of  a  clerk 
and  treasurer,  or  one  person  to  act  in  both  capacities.  The 
trustees  shall  elect  one  of  their  number  as  president,  shall 
appoint  a  marshal,  who  may  also  act  as  street  commissioner 
and  chief  of  the  fire  force,  and  shall  have  general  charge  of 
municipal  matters  in  the  town. 

Cities  are  divided  into  five  classes  on  the  basis  of  popu- 
lation at  the  latest  United  States  census,  but  the  systems 
of  government  for  the  different  classes  are  along  similar 
lines.  The  first  class  includes  cities  over  100,000  population, 
of  which  Indianapolis  is  the  only  instance.  The  second 
class  includes  cities  from  45,000  to  100,000,  of  which  at  pres- 
ent there  are  two  —  Evansville  and  Fort  Wayne.  The 
third  class,  from  20,000  to  45,000,  has  five  cities  — Terre 
Haute,  South  Bend,  Muncie,  New  Albany,  and  Anderson. 


120  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

The  fourth  class,  from  10,000  to  20,000,  has  eleven  cities; 
and  the  fifth  class,  those  under  10,000,  includes  about  fifty 
cities. 

Variations  in  organization  provided  in  the  act  are,  however, 
less  frequent  than  the  number  of  classes.  The  arrangements 
for  the  first  two  classes  are  practically  identical;  and  also 
those  for  the  third  and  fourth  classes.  There  seems  no  sub- 
stantial reason  why  there  should  have  been  more  than  three 
classes  established. 

Every  city  elects  a  council,  a  mayor,  and  a  city  clerk.  A 
city  judge  is  also  to  be  elected,  except  in  cities  of  the  fifth 
class,  where  the  mayor  acts  in  that  capacity.  A  city  treasurer 
is  elected,  except  in  cities  of  the  first  three  classes,  which  are 
county  seats,  where  the  county  treasurer  acts  as  city  treasurer. 

The  council  consists  of  one  member  from  each  ward,  and 
from  two  to  six  members  elected  at  large,  the  number  of 
members  at  large  to  be  half  as  many  as  the  number  elected 
by  wards.  Boundaries  of  wards  may  be  changed  once  in  six 
years  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  all  members  of  the  council. 
The  powers  of  the  council  include  authority  to  establish 
police  regulations  in  a  long  list  of  enumerated  cases.  New 
features  in  this  list  are  the  power  to  exclude  saloons  from  the 
residence  portions  of  cities,  the  power  to  regulate  the  height 
of  buildings,  and  the  power  to  regulate  railroad  traffic  within 
the  city  limits.  The  council  can  also  levy  taxes,  vote  loans 
up  to  two  per  cent  of  the  taxable  value  of  property,  and 
manage  the  finances.  But  it  is  provided  that  if  a  council 
fails  to  fix  the  tax  levy  and  make  appropriations  before  the 
first  Monday  of  October,  the  levy  and  appropriations  for 
the  preceding  year  shall  be  continued  and  renewed  for  the 
current  year.  In  cities  of  the  fifth  class  council  committees 
may  exercise  executive  functions. 

The  mayor  is  given  important  and  far-reaching  powers. 
He  has  the  absolute  power  of  appointing  the  heads  of  all 
departments  in  cities  of  the  first  four  classes,  and  most  of 
the  executive   officers  in   cities  of  the   fifth  class.    These 


MUNICIPAL   CODES  IN   THE   MIDDLE   WEST  121 

officers  will  not  hold  for  any  specified  term,  but  any  of  them 
may  be  removed  by  the  mayor,  who  is  required  to  give  notice 
to  the  officer  and  to  state  in  a  message  to  the  council  the 
reason  for  removal.  This  arrangement  clearly  makes  the 
mayor  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  the  executive  depart- 
ments, but  at  the  same  time  encourages  permanence  of 
tenure  in  the  management  of  these  departments  by  requir- 
ing the  mayor  to  state  publicly  his  reasons  for  exercising  the 
power  of  removal.  This  system  is  moreover  not  introduced 
on  purely  theoretical  grounds,  but  has  already  proven  its 
practical  advantages  in  a  number  of  the  larger  Indiana  cities. 

Monthly  meetings  of  the  mayor  and  heads  of  departments 
are  provided  for,  and  this  "cabinet"  is  authorized  to  adopt 
rules  and  regulations  for  the  administration  of  the  depart- 
ments, including  rules  "  which  shall  prescribe  a  common  and 
systematic  method  of  ascertaining  the  comparative  fitness 
of  applicants  for  office,  position,  and  promotion,  and  of  select- 
ing, appointing,  and  promoting  those  found  to  be  best  fitted." 

The  mayor  has  also  the  usual  limited  veto  power,  including 
the  right  to  veto  items  of  appropriation  bills,  the  power  to 
recommend  measures  to  the  council  and  to  call  special  sessions 
of  that  body.  In  cities  of  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  classes 
he  presides  over  the  council;  he  can  also  appoint  special 
examiners  to  investigate  the  accounts  of  any  department  or 
officer  at  any  time. 

Executive  officers  and  departments  are  regulated  in  con- 
siderable detail  by  the  act,  with  variations  for  the  different 
classes  of  cities.  But  in  the  main  a  uniform  method  is  fol- 
lowed. 

In  cities  of  the  fifth  class  there  is  a  marshal,  chief  of  fire 
force,  street  commissioner,  and  board  of  health  and  charities 
appointed  by  the  mayor,  and  a  city  attorney  appointed 
by  the  council.  Other  executive  functions  are  performed  in 
these  cities  by  council  committees. 

In  the  cities  of  the  first  four  classes  there  are  from  five  to 
eight  departments.     All  cities  in  these  classes  have  depart- 


122  ESSAYS    IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

ments  of  finance,  law,  public  works,  assessment  and  collection, 
and  public  health  and  charities.  A  department  of  public 
safety,  controlling  the  police  and  fire  force,  is  provided  for 
cities  of  the  first  and  second  class,  and  is  optional  for  cities 
of  the  third  class.  The  variation  seems  to  be  due  to  the  pro- 
vision in  the  former  law  for  state  police  boards  in  cities  from 
10,000  to  35,000  population.  A  special  department  of  public 
parks  is  also  provided  for  cities  of  the  first  two  classes.  By  a 
peculiar  arrangement  cities  of  the  second  class  are  allowed 
to  establish  a  special  department  of  waterworks,  which  in 
other  cities  comes  under  the  department  of  public  works. 

The  departments  of  finance,  law,  and  assessment  and  collec- 
tion are  placed  in  charge  of  single  officials  —  the  comptroller, 
city  attorney,  and  the  elected  treasurer.  The  assessment 
of  property  for  taxation  is,  however,  not  regulated  by  the 
municipal  code,  but  by  a  general  law  on  the  subject  for  the 
whole  state.  Where  a  city  establishes  a  sinking  fund,  there 
is  provided  a  sinking-fund  commission,  consisting  of  the  comp- 
troller and  two  other  members  appointed  by  the  mayor  —  in 
this  case  the  terms  of  the  latter  two  members  expiring  at 
different  times. 

The  other  departments  are  in  charge  of  boards,  consisting 
of  three  members  each,  except  for  the  park  boards,  which 
have  four  members.  In  all  cases  not  more  than  two  mem- 
bers of  each  board  may  belong  to  the  same  political  party. 

Salaries  are  regulated  for  the  various  classes  of  cities  with 
too  much  detail.  In  some  cases  maximum  salaries  are  speci- 
fied; in  others  a  minimum  and  maximum.  But  there  is 
little  discretion  left  to  the  councils;  and  with  the  growth 
of  cities  it  is  certain  that  there  will  be  frequent  amendments 
to  the  law  in  this  respect.  Of  the  boards,  that  for  public 
works  is  allowed  the  largest  remuneration;  the  board  of 
public  safety  has  a  distinctly  smaller  rate;  the  board  of 
health  has  a  maximum  of  one  hundred  dollars  for  each 
member,  while  the  park  board  must  serve  without  compen- 
sation. 


MtFNICIPAL    CODES   IN    THE    MIDDLE    WEST  123 

If  municipal  departments  must  be  regulated  by  statute, 
the  Indiana  plan  of  varying  the  system  with  a  reasonable 
classification  of  cities  is  much  better  than  the  hard  and  fast 
provisions  for  all  cities  in  the  Ohio  law.  But  in  this  respect 
the  Illinois  act,  which  permits  the  city  councils  to  establish 
offices  and  regulate  salaries,  is  better  than  either  of  the  other 
laws. 

Municipal  ownership  is  authorized  for  waterworks,  gas- 
works, electric  light  works,  and  heating  and  power  plants, 
after  a  referendum  vote.  But  the  debt  limit  of  two  per  cent 
of  the  taxable  value  is  likely  to  prevent  most  cities  from 
undertaking  all  these  functions. 

All  franchises  previously  granted  are  legalized;  and  au- 
thority is  given  to  grant  new  franchises,  with  no  statutory 
restriction  as  to  the  term  of  the  grant,  while  contracts  for  a 
supply  of  light,  water,  or  heat  for  city  purposes  may  be  made 
for  periods  of  twenty-five  years.  In  these  respects  the  new 
law  shows  a  distinct  reactionary  movement  in  the  interest 
of  private  corporations.  Formerly  franchises  were  limited 
to  periods  of  ten  and  thirty-four  years,  according  to  the  kind, 
and  contracts  for  light  were  limited  to  ten  years. 

No  simple  verdict  can  be  given  on  the  act  as  a  whole.  The 
relaxation  of  the  restrictions  on  franchise  corporations  is 
likely  to  prove  a  serious  evil.  The  prohibition  on  the  reelec- 
tion of  members  of  the  council  will  promote  unnecessary 
changes  in  public  policy.  The  opportunity  to  introduce 
other  improvements  has  been  neglected,  and  the  act  is  far 
from  perfect  in  respect  to  the  arrangement  of  its  various  parts. 

On  the  other  hand,  so  far  as  concerns  the  organization  of 
the  municipal  government,  the  measure  is  a  decided  advance 
on  previous  conditions  in  Indiana  and  a  still  greater  improve- 
ment on  existing  conditions  in  other  states.  It  is  of  no  little 
advantage  to  have  the  law  on  this  subject  reduced  to  simpler 
and  more  systematic  terms.  This  should  reduce  the  amount 
of  litigation  in  the  courts  and  make  the  municipal  system 
one  that  can  be  generally  understood  by  the  people.    The 


124  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

centralization  of  executive  powers  and  responsibility  in  the 
mayor  should  clarify  the  situation  for  the  voters  on  election 
day,  and  the  opportunity  given  by  the  law  for  the  establish- 
ment of  the  merit  system  in  the  municipal  service  is  at  least 
a  step  in  the  right  direction. 


VII 
AMERICAN  MUNICIPAL  COUNCILS* 

Considering  the  amount  of  published  discussion  on  munici- 
pal government  in  the  United  States,  it  is  somewhat  sur- 
prising that  there  should  be  a  lack  of  definite  information 
concerning  the  primary  facts  of  municipal  organization. 
Most  of  the  literature,  however,  which  deals  with  the  structure 
of  municipal  government  is  devoted  to  advocacy  of  proposed 
changes;  and  references  to  existing  conditions  are  either 
confessedly  limited  to  a  few  cities,  or  are  vague  statements, 
often  erroneous  because  made  without  the  detailed  investi- 
gation which  must  be  the  foundation  of  any  safe  generaliza- 
tion. Yet  it  would  seem  that  the  task  of  securing  a  satis- 
factory system  of  municipal  organization  would  be  aided 
by  a  comprehensive  examination  of  existing  methods;  and 
that  it  would  be  worth  while  for  students  of  this  problem 
to  understand  with  some  degree  of  exactness  what  are  the 
leading  practices  and  prevailing  tendencies  of  the  time. 

It  is  in  this  belief,  and  as  a  first  step  in  this  direction,  that 
this  paper  has  been  prepared.  Much  of  the  information  has 
been  secured  by  a  series  of  inquiries  addressed  to  the  cities 
which,  according  to  the  census  of  1900,  have  a  population  of 
more  than  25,000.  The  facts  thus  collected  have  been  sup- 
plemented by  other  data  from  various  sources.  The  study 
deals  for  the  most  part  with  the  structural  organization  of 
municipal  councils.  Some  remarks  are  added  in  reference  to 
the  general  character  of  the  powers  conferred  on  these  bodies ; 
but  there  is  no  attempt  to  analyze  the  minutely  enumerated 
"powers"  —  which  are  in  fact  rather  limitations  —  which 
form  so  large  a  part  of  most  municipal  charters. 

^  Reprinted  from  the  Political  Science  Quarterly,  XIX,  234  (June, 
1904). 

125 


126  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

ORGANIZATION 

Number  of  Chambers. — In  the  early  days  American  city 
councils  were  always  single  bodies,  like  the  town  councils  in 
England  after  which  they  were  modelled.  During  the  nine- 
teenth century  the  bicameral  system  was  introduced  in  many 
cities,  sometimes  in  imitation  of  the  bicameral  state  legis- 
latures and  the  national  Congress,  but  in  Massachusetts  as  a 
development  from  the  town-meeting  government.  At  one 
time  or  another  most  of  the  large  cities  have  had  a  bicameral 
council;  and,  while  many  of  them  have  returned  to  the  single- 
house  system,  two  councils  are  still  found  in  Philadelphia, 
St.  Louis,  Boston,  Baltimore,  Buffalo,  and  Pittsburg  —  one- 
half  of  the  cities  with  over  300,000  population.  Apart  from 
the  large  cities,  the  bicameral  system  is  now  almost  confined 
to  New  England,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  Kentucky; 
but  there  are  a  few  other  sporadic  cases,  as  in  St.  Paul,  At- 
lanta, Wheeling,  Mobile,  and  Chattanooga.  In  the  United 
States  as  a  whole,  about  one-third  of  the  cities  of  over  25,000 
population  have  the  bicameral  system.  In  the  smaller  cities 
the  proportion  is  less:  in  1892,  out  of  376  cities  with  over 
8000  inhabitants,  only  82  had  a  bicameral  council.  The 
single-chamber  council,  which  has  always  been  the  more 
prevalent  form,^  is  found,  among  the  large  cities,  in  New 
York,  Chicago,  Cleveland,  Cincinnati,  San  Francisco,  New 
Orleans,  Detroit,  and  Milwaukee. 

In  some  cities  which  have  nominally  only  a  single  council 
there  is  another  body,  which,  although  ostensibly  only  an 
executive  authority,  has  some  resemblance  to  a  second 
branch  of  the  council.  Such  bodies  are  the  boards  of  esti- 
mates in  New  York  City  and  in  the  four  cities  of  the  second 
class  in  New  York  State,  and  the  boards  of  public  service 
in  Ohio  cities. 

Number  of  Members. —  In  this  respect  there  is  naturally 

*  Mr.  Bryce's  statement  (American  Commonwealth,  ch.  50)  that  the 
bicameral  system  is  the  more  common  must  have  been  based  on  limited 
investigation,  confined  to  the  larger  cities  of  the  Eastern  states. 


AMERICAN  MUNICIPAL  COUNCILS  127 

a  wide  difference  between  large  and  small  cities ;  but  there  is 
seldom  any  definite  relation  between  the  size  of  a  city  and 
the  size  of  its  council.  For  the  most  part  the  councils  are 
smaller  than  in  European  cities.  Philadelphia,  with  41 
members  in  the  select  council  and  149  in  the  common  council, 
has  by  far  the  largest  membership.  Next  to  this  come  Bos- 
ton with  88  members  in  two  councils,  New  York  with  79 
members,  and  Chicago  with  70,  in  a  single  chamber.  There 
are  few  other  cities  with  more  than  forty  members,  and  by  far 
the  larger  number  have  less  than  thirty.  In  New  England 
€ities  the  councils  are  usually  larger  in  proportion  to  the 
population  than  in  other  parts  of  the  country.  Some  cities 
have  strikingly  small  councils.  San  Francisco  has  only 
eighteen  members.  New  Orleans  only  seventeen,  and  the 
cities  of  Iowa  from  six  to  ten.  In  Memphis  the  council  con- 
sists of  the  board  of  fire  and  police  commissioners  and  the 
board  of  public  works,  meeting  as  one  body  of  eleven  mem- 
bers. In  Galveston  the  powers  of  a  council  are  exercised  by 
a  board  of  four  commissioners.^ 

Term  of  Service.  —  The  term  of  service  in  municipal  coun- 
cils varies  from  one  to  four  years  in  different  cities;  but  the 
prevailing  period  is  clearly  two  years.  In  New  England 
annual  elections  for  the  whole  membership  of  the  council  are 
£till  almost  universal.  Elsewhere  biennial  terms  are  to  be 
found  with  few  exceptions;  but  in  many  places  one-half  of 
the  members  are  chosen  each  alternate  year,  so  that  there  is 
a  municipal  election  every  year.  The  most  important  in- 
stances of  longer  terms  may  be  noted.  In  Philadelphia, 
while  the  members  of  the  common  council  serve  for  two 
years,  those  in  the  select  council  are  chosen  for  three  years. 
So,  too,  in  St.  Louis  and  Buffalo,  while  the  larger  chambers 
of  the  councils  have  a  two-year  term,  the  members  of  the 
.smaller  chambers  are  elected  for  four  years.     A  three-year 

*  As  first  established,  two  commissioners  were  appointed  by  the  Gov- 
ernor and  two  elected.  All  are  now  elected.  Similar  arrangements 
tave  been  established  in  Houston,  and  laws  have  been  passed  in  Kansas 
and  Iowa  (1907)  authorizing  a  like  plan. 


128  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTEATION 

term  is  also  found  in  Mobile  for  both  branches  of  the  council ; 
and  a  four-year  term  in  Memphis,  Evansville,  Charleston, 
Birmingham,  Sacramento,  and  La  Crosse. 

These  short  terms  for  members  of  city  councils  are  not 
offset  by  any  strong  tendency  to  continuous  reelection; 
and,  as  a  result  of  the  almost  complete  changes  which  take 
place,  generally  within  two  years,  there  is  little  opportunity 
for  members  of  the  councils  to  acquire  experience  in  munici- 
pal affairs.  Specific  information  about  the  length  of  service 
is  difficult  to  obtain;  but  the  following  data  for  a  few  cities 
will  illustrate  the  general  statement.  From  1836  to  1900 
there  had  been  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  a  total  of  569  aldermen. 
Of  these,  342,  about  60  per  cent,  had  held  the  position  for 
two  years  or  less;  49  had  served  for  three  years,  and  117  for 
four  years.  Only  61,  or  a  little  over  ten  per  cent,  had  served 
for  more  than  four  years;  and  40  of  these  had  only  one  or 
two  years  additional.  Of  the  remaining  21,  17  were  aldermen 
from  seven  to  ten  years;  and  the  four  holding  records  for 
longest  service  held  the  positions  for  13,  14,  16,  and  22  years 
respectively.^  The  St.  Louis  house  of  delegates  for  1899- 
1901  had  among  its  28  members  but  eight  who  had  served 
in  the  previous  house,  and  only  two  who  had  a  longer  term 
of  service.  One  of  these  two,  however,  had  been  a  member 
of  the  house  for  14  years.^  The  Cincinnati  board  of  legisla- 
tion in  1900,  out  of  31  members,  had  four  who  were  also  on 
the  board  in  1895.  The  Cleveland  council  of  1901-02  had 
not  a  single  member  who  was  on  the  council  in  1895. 

The  Chicago  council  in  recent  years  shows  a  larger  pro- 
portion of  reflections.  Of  the  35  members  whose  terms 
expired  in  the  spring  of  1902,  22  (nearly  two-thirds)  were 
reelected.  Seven  had  served  for  six  years,  four  for  eight 
years,  and  one  member  has  been  in  the  council  for  14  years. 
At  the  council  election  in  Detroit  in  1901,  seven  of  the  17 
members  chosen  were  reelected. 

*  Compiled  from  Common  Council  Manual  for  Newark,  1900,  pp. 
148-155. 

'  Municipal  Code  of  St.  Louis,  1900,  pp.  1011-1026. 


AMERICAN  MUNICIPAL  COUNCILS  129 

Mode  of  Election.  —  Members  are  for  the  most  part  chosen 
by  wards  or  districts.  This  system  is  almost  universal  for 
single-chambered  councils  and  for  the  larger  house  in  bi- 
cameral councils.  Most  often  each  district  chooses  one  or 
two  members.  The  number  of  cities  having  one  member 
from  each  district  and  the  number  having  two  are  nearly  the 
same;  but  in  the  large  cities  the  one-member  district  is  more 
general,  this  plan  being  followed  in  New  York,  St.  Louis, 
Baltimore,  Buffalo,  Cleveland,  and  Cincinnati,  while  the  two- 
member  plan  is  followed  in  Chicago  and  Detroit.  Boston 
and  many  other  New  England  cities  have  three  members 
from  each  ward ;  while  a  few  cities  in  New  England  and  Penn- 
sylvania (Philadelphia,  Pittsburg,  and  Allegheny)  have  a 
variable  number  —  presumably  in  proportion  to  the  popula- 
tion of  the  various  districts. 

It  has  often  been  urged  that  this  district  system  constitutes 
one  of  the  main  factors  in  the  election  of  inferior  and  dishonest 
members  of  municipal  councils.  It  is  contended  that  at 
best  it  lends  itself  to  the  election  of  members  who  will  pay 
more  attention  to  the  needs  of  their  districts  than  to  the  larger 
interests  of  the  city  as  a  whole;  and  that  the  concentration 
of  the  worst  elements  of  the  city's  population  in  some  wards 
makes  inevitable  the  election  of  a  number  of  very  objection- 
able members.  Moreover  the  ward  lines  seldom  mark  off 
any  natural  divisions  of  the  city,  with  a  developed  local  senti- 
ment and  opinion;  and  the  making  and  changing  of  ward 
boundaries  lends  itself  to  artificial  gerrymandering  for  par- 
tisan purposes.  Even  without  deliberate  gerrymandering, 
it  is  quite  possible,  under  the  district  system,  for  a  minority 
of  the  voters  to  elect  a  majority  of  the  council;  or  for  a 
comparatively  small  majority  to  elect  practically  the  whole 
council. 

In  rapidly  growing  cities  other  difficulties  are  introduced. 
The  increase  in  population  is  not  spread  uniformly  over  the 
whole  city,  but  is  concentrated  in  certain  districts,  while 
at  the  same  time  there  is  a  decrease  of  residents  in  the  busi- 


130 


ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


ness  sections ;  and  it  is  thus  almost  impossible,  if  the  prevail- 
ing system  of  equal  representation  in  each  ward  is  maintained, 
to  adhere  even  approximately  to  the  theory  of  representation 
in  proportion  to  population.  The  subjoined  table  demon- 
strates this  inequality  for  a  number  of  the  larger  cities ;  ^  and 
similar  if  less  striking  figures  might  be  given  for  the  smaller 
cities.  It  is,  moreover,  of  special  significance  that,  in  the 
largest  cities  at  least,  the  districts  with  relatively  small  and 
decreasing  population,  which  thus  have  an  excessive  repre- 
sentation in  the  councils,  are  often  districts  where  the  worst 
elements  of  the  population  are  to  be  found.  If  the  districts 
were  of  equal  area,  the  congestion  in  the  slum  districts  would 
give  the  opposite  effect ;  but  the  small  area  of  the  slum  wards, 
and  the  tendency  of  population  there  to  decrease  as  the  busi- 
ness sections  develop,  bring  about  this  over-representation 
of  such  wards.  Thus  in  New  York  the  Battery  district  is 
the  smallest ;  and  in  Chicago,  before  the  recent  re-districting, 
the  first  ward  was  one  of  the  smallest. 

Some  exceptions  to  the  prevailing  system  of  district  repre- 
sentation should  be  noted.  Where  the  single-chamber  coun- 
cil exists,  the  most  general  of  these  exceptions  is  the  election, 


*  MUNICIPAL  WARD  AND  DISTRICT  POPULATIONS,   1900. 


Most 

Least 

Average 

No. 

No.  20% 

No.  20% 

Populous 
District. 

Populous 
District. 

Popula- 
tion. 

Dist- 
ricts 

Aver- 
age. 

Aver- 
age. 

New  York  * .     .     .     . 

122,395 

25,959 

60,000 

35 

10 

14 

Chicago 

106,124 

11,795 

49,000 

35 

10 

17 

Philadelphia 

65,372 

6,953 

32,000 

41 

14 

17 

Boston     .     . 

32,566 

12,840 

22,000 

25 

5 

3 

St.  Louis 

27,998 

12,212 

20,000 

28 

5 

3 

Baltimore     . 

24,117 

19,201 

21,000 

24 

0 

0 

Cleveland     . 

60,504 

17,679 

34,700 

11 

4 

4 

BuflFalo    .     . 

29,414 

6,488 

14,000 

25 

6 

13 

San  Francisco 

27,836 

12,797 

19,000 

18 

4 

2 

Cincinnati     . 

15,995 

3,763 

10,000 

31 

11 

6 

Pittsburg 

22,669 

660 

8,500 

38 

12 

20 

New  Orleans 

31,663 

4,484 

17,000 

17 

6 

5 

Detroit    .     . 

28,281 

9,313 

17,000 

17 

2 

3 

Milwaukee    . 

21,903 

5,418 

13,500 

21 

8 

6 

*  Manhattan  and  Bronx. 


AMERICAN   MUNICIPAL  COUNCILS  131 

in  addition  to  the  ward  representatives,  of  a  small  number 
of  members  from  the  city  at  large.  This  plan  is  followed 
regularly  in  Indiana  and  Iowa,  has  been  adopted  in  the  new 
Ohio  code,  and  is  found  in  a  few  other  sporadic  cases.*  In 
a  few  cases  all  of  the  members  are  elected  at  large,  as  in  the 
board  of  supervisors  which  takes  the  place  of  the  council  in 
San  Francisco,  and  the  boards  which  act  as  the  council  in 
Memphis.^  More  frequently,  the  smaller  body  in  a  bicameral 
council  is  elected  from  the  whole  city  instead  of  by  wards; 
indeed,  for  these  bodies  the  general  ticket  system  is  almost  as 
common  as  the  district  system.  This  general  ticket  system 
is  followed  in  St.  Louis,  Buffalo,  Louisville,  St.  Paul,  and 
commonly  in  Massachusetts  and  Kentucky.  But  in  Boston 
the  aldermen  have  been  chosen  by  districts ;  and  in  the  Penn- 
sylvania cities  select  councils  are  elected  by  wards,  each 
ward  having  one  member  in  these  bodies,  irrespective  of 
population,  while  in  the  common  councils  the  representation 
of  wards  is  apportioned  on  the  basis  of  population. 

Minority  Representation.  —  Under  a  general  ticket  system 
of  voting,  one  party  is  almost  certain  to  elect  all  of  the  mem- 
bers chosen  at  one  election,  and  a  large  minority  of  voters  — 
or  even  a  majority,  if  the  election  is  decided  by  a  plurality  — 
may  have  no  representation  in  the  council.  To  obviate  such 
a  result,  various  schemes  of  voting  have  been  devised;  and 
several  of  them  have  been  put  in  operation,  but  only  in  a 
few  places,  and  usually  to  be  abandoned  after  a  few  years. 
In  New  York  City  an  elected  board  of  ten  governors  for  the 
almshouse  was  established  in  1849,  two  to  be  chosen  each 
year.  Each  voter  had  but  one  vote,  and  the  two  candidates 
who  received  the  largest  number  of  votes  were  elected.  In 
1857  a  board  of  supervisors  for  New  York  County  was  estab- 
lished to  be  chosen  on  a  similar  plan.  Each  voter  could  vote 
for  but  six  of  the  twelve  members  to  be  chosen;  the  six  can- 

*  San  Antonio,  Dallas,  and  Montgomery. 

*  Also  the  boards  of  commissioners  under  the  recent  Texas,  Kansas, 
and  Iowa  laws. 


132  ESSAYS   IN  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

didates  receiving  the  largest  vote  were  declared  elected,  and 
the  six  candidates  next  in  the  order  of  their  vote  were  to 
be  appointed  by  the  board.  These  methods  gave  the  prin- 
cipal minority  party  equal  representation  with  the  party 
casting  the  largest  vote. 

A  slightly  different  method  was  followed  for  the  New  York 
board  of  education  in  1869,  when  there  were  seven  elected 
members  and  five  appointed  from  the  candidates  next  in 
number  of  votes  to  those  elected.  From  1873  to  1882  a 
similar  system  of  minority  representation  was  in  operation 
in  New  York  City  for  the  election  of  the  municipal  council. 
Six  aldermen  were  chosen  at  large,  but  no  elector  could  vote 
for  more  than  four;  the  remainder  were  elected  in  five  dis- 
tricts, each  choosing  three  members,  but  no  elector  could 
vote  for  more  than  two.^  Some  time  after  these  experi- 
ments had  been  abandoned  in  New  York,  the  same  principle 
of  limited  voting  was  applied  in  Boston,  in  1893,  for  the  board 
of  aldermen  —  the  smaller  branch  of  the  city  council.  The 
twelve  aldermen  were  elected  at  large ;  but  no  elector  could 
vote  for  more  than  seven.  After  a  few  years  this  arrange- 
ment was  abandoned,  but  a  somewhat  similar  plan  went  into 
operation  in  the  fall  of  1903.  A  slightly  difTerent  plan, 
which  secures  much  the  same  results,  has  been  used  for  the 
election  of  the  board  of  sanitary  trustees  in  Chicago.  Each 
voter  had  nine  votes  —  the  same  number  as  the  number  of 
members  on  the  board  —  and  these  votes  might  be  given 
one  to  each  of  nine  candidates,  or  they  might  be  distributed 
among  not  less  than  five  candidates. 

These  plans  of    limited  voting  insure  a  certain  kind  of 

*  Political  Science  Quarterly,  XIV,  691.  Under  this  system  not 
only  were  a  considerable  number  of  Republican  members  elected,  but 
the  different  factions  of  the  Democratic  party  were  also  represented. 
The  change  to  the  single-member  system  was  made  without  discussion 
or  popular  demand,  and  there  seems  reason  to  think  that  it  was  made 
in  the  interest  of  uniting  the  Democratic  factions  under  one  control. 
It  is  perhaps  significant  that  within  two  years  after  the  system  of  minor- 
ity representation  was  abandoned  a  board  of  aldermen  was  elected  which 
became  notorious  for  the  bribery  of  its  members. 


AMERICAN  MUNICIPAL  COUNCILS  133 

minority  representation;  and  some  of  the  earlier  plans  gave 
a  larger  representation  to  minorities  than  they  could  justly 
claim  on  the  principle  of  majority  rule.  But  all  of  these 
devices  are  open  to  serious  objections.  On  the  one  hand, 
the  courts  have  held,  in  some  states,  that  where  an  elector 
is  not  permitted  to  vote  for  the  full  number  of  persons  to  be 
elected,  he  is  deprived  of  his  constitutional  rights.  On  the 
other  hand,  these  plans  have  been  criticised  from  the  point 
of  view  of  pubhc  policy.  Resting  as  they  do  on  the  assump- 
tion that  the  voters  are  permanently  divided  into  two  organ- 
ized parties,  they  tend  to  promote  the  conduct  and  control 
of  municipal  elections  by  the  national  party  organizations. 
This  reduces  the  influence  of  independent  voters.  Even 
where  such  voters  hold  the  balance  of  power,  they  can  control 
the  election  only  of  one  or  two  members;  and  in  most  cases 
a  nomination  by  either  of  the  principal  parties  has  proved 
to  be  almost  equivalent  to  an  election. 

Other  plans  of  minority  and  proportional  representation 
have  been  proposed  and  discussed;  but  none  except  those 
described  above  have  as  yet  been  put  in  operation  in  munici- 
pal elections  in  this  country.  Among  the  plans  proposed 
is  that  of  cumulative  voting,  which  has  been  employed  with 
considerable  satisfaction  in  Illinois  since  1870,  for  electing 
members  of  the  state  House  of  Representatives.* 

Compensation.  —  Some  financial  compensation  or  salary 
is  paid  to  members  of  municipal  councils  in  nearly  all  of  the 
large  cities,  and  in  the  majority  of  the  smaller  cities.  The 
largest  salary,  $2000  a  year,  is  paid  to  the  New  York  alder- 
men. The  members  of  the  Chicago  council  and  of  the  Boston 
board  of  aldermen  have  each  $1500.  The  annual  stipend 
is  $1200  in  San  Francisco,  Detroit,  and  Los  Angeles;  and 
$1000  in  Baltimore,  Buffalo,  and  Denver.     In  other  cities 

*  Cumulative  voting  has  been  held  to  be  unconstitutional  in  Michigan 
(84  Michigan,  228);  and  probably  in  most  states  an  amendment  to  the 
state  constitution  would  be  necessary  before  it  could  be  legally  estab- 
lished. 


134  ESSAYS   IN  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

the  amount  is  usually  between  $200  and  $400,  or,  in  smaller 
places,  from  $2  to  $5  per  meeting.  Even  in  the  St.  Louis 
assembly  and  in  the  Boston  common  council  the  members 
receive  only  $300  a  year.  Where  the  compensation  is  a 
fixed  amount  per  meeting  the  payment  is  often  dependent 
upon  attendance;  and  in  other  cases  there  is  a  reduction 
in  salary  or  a  fine  imposed  for  absence.  In  some  cases  the  presi- 
dent of  the  council  receives  a  larger  salary  than  the  other  mem- 
bers; and  in  New  York  City  this  official  is  paid  $5000  a  year. 

In  many  cities,  however,  the  older  rule  of  no  salaries  to 
members  of  municipal  councils  is  still  followed.  This  is 
almost  the  universal  rule  in  New  England  (except  in  Boston) 
and  in  Pennsylvania;  it  obtains  frequently  in  New  Jersey 
and  in  the  Southern  states,  and  occasionally  in  other  states,* 
The  largest  cities  where  no  salaries  are  paid  are  Philadelphia, 
Pittsburg,  Newark,  Jersey  City,  and  Louisville. 

Standing  of  Councillors.  —  The  inferior  business  standing 
and  character  of  persons  elected  to  large  American  city  councils 
has  been  a  frequent  subject  of  remark,  but  there  have  been 
few  attempts  to  study  this  point  in  detail.  In  1895  Mayor 
Matthews,  of  Boston,  collected  some  definite  facts  on  this 
point  for  the  city  of  Boston.  He  presented  statistics  showing 
that,  during  the  first  fifty  years  after  the  creation  of  the  city 
government  in  1822,  from  85  to  95  per  cent  of  the  members 
of  the  council  were  owners  of  property  assessed  for  taxation; 
but  that  after  1875  the  proportion  had  rapidly  declined,  and 
in  1895  less  than  30  per  cent  of  the  council  members  were  prop- 
erty owners.  Not  only  had  the  percentage  of  property  owners 
declined,  but  the  total  assessed  value  of  property  owned 
by  council  members,  which  had  been  $986,400  in  1822,  and 
$2,300,400  in  1875,  had  fallen  to  $372,000  in  1894.  Mr, 
Matthews'  statistics  are  reproduced  in  the  following  table :  — ■ 

•  In  the  states  of  the  Middle  West  the  only  instance  among  cities 
of  over  25,000  appears  to  be  Oshkosh,  Wis. 


AMERICAN  MUNICIPAL  COUNCILS 


135 


PROPERTY  INTERESTS  OF  MEMBERS  OF  THE  BOSTON 
CITY  COUNCIL  1 

Board  op  Aldermen 


Year. 

No.  OF 

Mem- 
bers 

No.  As- 
sessed 

Per  Cent 

OF  Members 

Assessed 

Amounts 

Assessed  to 

Members 

Total  assessed 
valuation  op 

CITY 

Percentage  op 
Total   Valua- 
tion Assessed 
to  Members 

1822 

8 

8 

100.00 

$146,100 

$42,140,200 

.00347 

1830 

8 

8 

100.00 

99,400 

59,586,000 

.00167 

1840 

8 

8 

100.00 

168,800 

94,581,600 

.00178 

1850 

8 

8 

100.00 

261,800 

180,000,500 

.00145 

1860 

12 

12 

100.00 

622,900 

276,861,000 

.00225 

1870 

12 

12 

100.00 

476,200 

584,089,400 

.00081 

1875 

12 

12 

100.00 

769,600 

793,961,895 

.00097 

1880 

13 

11 

84.61 

197,900 

639,462,495 

.00031 

1885 

12 

7 

58.33 

457,900 

685,579,072 

.00067 

1890 

12 

8 

66.66 

206,200 

822,041,800 

.00025 

1895 

12 

9 

75.00 

105,500 

928,109,042 

.00013 

Common  Council 


1822 

48 

45 

1830 

49 

38 

1840 

48 

40 

1850 

48 

36 

1860 

48 

41 

1870 

64 

56 

1875 

74 

61 

1880 

75 

42 

1885 

72 

29 

1890 

73 

20 

1895 

75 

16 

93.75 
77.55 
83.33 
75.00 
85.41 
87.50 
82.43 
56.00 
40.55 
27.39 
20.33 


840,300 

228,300 

204,400 

225,850 

1,116,400 

1,050,900 

1,530,800 

667,000 

290,300 

315,700 

266,500 


42,140,200 
59,586,000 
94,581,600 
180,000,500 
276,861,000 
584,089,400 
793,961,895 
639,462,495 
685,579,072 
822,041,800 
928,109,042 


.01994 
.00383 
.00216 
.00125 
.00403 
.00180 
.00192 
.00143 
.00042 
.00038 
.00029 


Meetings.  —  Regular  meetings  of  councils  in  large  American 
cities  are  usually  held  on  a  fixed  evening  in  each  week;  in 
less  important  cities,  including,  however,  such  places  as 
Milwaukee  and  Toledo,  once  a  fortnight;  and  in  the  smaller 
cities  often  not  more  than  once  a  month.  In  small  cities 
and  also  in  some  important  cities,  as  Chicago,  Providence,  and 
Grand  Rapids,  the  mayor  presides;  but  in  most  large  cities  there 
is  usually  a  president  of  the  council,  sometimes  chosen  by  the 
council,  sometimes  elected  as  a  councilman  for  the  whole  city. 

Committees.  —  As  in  Congress  and  the  state  legislatures, 
much  of  the  effective  work  of  municipal  councils  is  performed 
*  N.  Matthews,  City  Government  of  Boston,  p.  171. 


136  ESSAYS  IN  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

by  standing  committees.  In  most  large  cities  there  are  from 
fifteen  to  twenty-five  regular  committees,  appointed  for  dif- 
ferent branches  of  municipal  administration.  Some  cities 
with  bicameral  councils  provide  for  joint  committees  of  the 
two  chambers,  and  in  this  way  reduce  the  chances  for  a  dead- 
lock. The  number  of  committees  and  the  subjects  referred 
to  each  vary  from  time  to  time  in  each  city.*  These  com- 
mittees have  normally  from  three  to  seven  members.  They 
hold  meetings  at  irregular  intervals,  according  to  the  busi- 
ness before  them.  In  small  cities  they  have  often  direct 
supervision  over  the  technical  agents  and  the  employees  of 
the  city  in  their  respective  branches  of  administration;  and 
often,  while  special  administrative  officers  or  boards  have 
been  created  for  some  department  in  a  given  city,  other 
departments  remain  under  the  immediate  control  of  council 
committees. 

POWERS 

It  would  serve  little  purpose  to  examine  the  host  of  detailed 
powers  granted  to  city  councils  under  the  system  of  special 
legislation,  enumerated  powers,  and  strict  construction  which 
prevails  in  all  of  the  states.  But  a  few  remarks  may  be 
made  about  each  of  the  two  primary  divisions,  into  which 
these  powers  may  be  classified:  the  control  over  administra- 
tive officers,  and  the  power  of  enacting  ordinances. 

Control  over  Administration. — While  both  Congress  and 
the  state  legislatures  have  and  exercise  large  powers  in  the 
creation  of  administrative  offices,  municipal  councils  in  most 
states  have  very  limited  powers  in  this  direction.  The  general 
situation  on  this  point  has  been  well  summarized  by  Judge 
Dillon :  — 

'  Detroit  has  at  present  the  following  list:  Ways  and  means,  claims 
and  accounts,  judiciary,  franchises,  grade  separation,  streets,  fire  limits, 
house  of  correction,  public  buildings,  sewers,  taxes,  street  openings, 
printing,  markets,  public  lighting,  parks  and  boulevards,  ordinances, 
pounds,  health,  licenses,  city  hospitals,  liquor  bonds,  rules,  charter  and 
city  legislation,  and  bridges. 


AMERICAN  MUNICIPAL  COUNCILS  137 

The  charter  or  constitution  of  the  corporation  usually  provides  with 
care  as  to  all  the  principal  officers,  such  as  mayor,  aldermen,  marshal, 
clerk,  treasurer,  and  the  like,  and  prescribes  their  general  duties.  This 
leaves  but  little  necessity  or  room  for  the  exercise  of  any  implied  power 
to  create  other  offices  and  appoint  other  officers.  It  is  supposed,  how- 
ever, when  not  in  contravention  of  the  charter,  that  municipal  corpo- 
rations may  to  a  Umited  extent  have  as  incidental  to  express  powers  the 
right  to  create  certain  minor  offices  of  a  ministerial  or  executive  nature. 
Thus,  if  power  be  conferred  to  provide  for  the  health  of  the  inhab- 
itants, this  would  give  the  corporation  the  right  to  pass  ordinances  to 
secure  this  end,  and  the  execution  of  such  ordinance  might  be  commit- 
ted to  a  health  officer,  although  no  such  officer  be  specifically  named  in 
the  organic  act,  if  this  course  would  not  conflict  with  any  of  its  pro- 
visions. But  the  power  to  create  offices  even  of  this  character  would 
be  limited  to  such  as  the  nature  of  the  duties  devolved  by  charter  or 
statute  on  the  corporation  naturally  and  reasonably  require.^ 

The  general  law  governing  municipal  corporations  in  Illi- 
nois gives  the  city  councils  in  that  state  a  much  larger  field 
for  the  creation  of  local  offices  than  is  usually  possessed. 
This  statute  provides  only  for  a  city  council,  mayor,  clerk, 
attorney,  and  treasurer,  and  then  authorizes  the  council  by 
a  two-thirds  vote  to  establish  such  other  offices  as  it  deems 
necessary  and  to  discontinue  any  of  these  offices  by  a  like 
vote.    In  the  words  of  the  statute:  — 

The  city  council  may  in  its  discretion,  from  time  to  time,  by  ordi- 
nance passed  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  all  the  aldermen  elected, 
provide  for  the  election  by  the  legal  voters  of  the  city  or  the  appoint- 
ment by  the  mayor  with  the  approval  of  the  city  council  of  a  city 
collector,  a  city  marshal,  a  city  superintendent  of  streets,  a  corporation 
counsel,  a  city  comptroller,  or  any  or  either  of  them,  and  such  other 
officers  as  may  by  said  council  be  deemed  necessary  or  expedient. 
The  city  council  may  by  a  like  vote,  by  ordinance  or  resolution,  to 
take  effect  at  the  end  of  their  fiscal  year,  discontinue  any  office  so 
created  and  devolve  the  duties  thereof  on  any  other  officer.^ 

In  many  cities  the  councils  retain  a  considerable  power  of 
appointment  to  municipal  offices.     The  position  of  city  clerk 

'  Dillon,  Municipal  Corporations,  §  207. 

'  Revised  Statutes  of  lUinois,  1899,  eh.  24,  §  73. 


138  ESSAYS  IN  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

is  more  frequently  filled  by  council  appointment  than  in  any 
other  way.^  Less  frequently  the  councils  elect  to  other 
offices,  and  sometimes  fill  all  important  positions.  This 
large  appointing  power  is  found  in  Minneapolis,  Providence, 
generally  in  New  England  (except  Boston  and  Connecticut 
cities),  and  Pennsylvania  (except  the  four  largest  cities),  and 
in  some  smaller  cities,  as  St.  Joseph,  Birmingham,  Mont- 
gomery, and  Fort  Worth.  More  often,  however,  offices  other 
than  that  of  city  clerk  are  filled  by  election,  or  by  the  nomi- 
nation of  the  mayor,  subject  to  confirmation  of  the  council. 
In  some  cities  this  power  of  the  council  to  confirm  is  used  by 
individual  members  of  the  council  to  dictate  nominations; 
but  in  other  cities,  as  in  Chicago  and  Cleveland,  the  mayor's 
nominations  are  regularly  confirmed.  In  a  number  of  larger 
cities,  even  the  power  of  confirmation  has  been  taken  away; 
but  this  development  might  more  properly  be  noted  in  a 
study  of  the  powers  of  the  mayor. 

The  council  has  nearly  always  the  right  to  receive  reports 
from  the  various  municipal  departments,  and  to  investigate 
the  work  of  the  departments  by  means  of  its  committees. 
The  control  exercised  in  this  way  is  made  effective  by  the 
power  of  the  council  over  the  finances,  and  especially  by 
its  authority  over  appropriations.  It  has  often  happened, 
however,  that  this  power  has  been  used,  not  to  limit,  but  to 
increase  the  expenditures,  and  in  such  a  way  as  to  help  the 
aldermen's  political  prospects  rather  than  for  the  best  inter- 
ests of  the  city.  In  consequence  of  this,  in  some  important 
cities  the  financial  powers  of  the  councils  have  been  very 
materially  limited.  In  the  principal  cities  of  New  York 
State  the  councils  cannot  increase  the  appropriations  above 
the  sums  placed  in  the  budget  by  the  board  of  estimates  — 
a  device  similar  to  that  followed  voluntarily  by  the  British 
House  of  Commons.    In  Chicago,  on  the  other  hand,  the 

*  The  council  does  not  select  this  oflBcer  in  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  San 
Francisco,  Detroit,  or  Indianapolis,  nor  generally  in  the  cities  of  Illinois, 
Indiana,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri. 


AMERICAN  MUNICIPAL  COUNCILS  139 

finance  committee  of  the  city  council  has  a  large  influence  in 
determining  the  appropriations. 

Ordinance  Power. —  Judicial  decisions  have  laid  down 
certain  general  principles  which  govern  and  limit  the  ordi- 
nance power  of  municipal  councils.  Municipal  ordinances 
must  be  reasonable  and  lawful;  they  must  not  be  oppressive 
in  character;  they  must  be  impartial,  fair,  and  general  in 
their  application;  and  they  must  be  consistent  with  the 
public  policy  of  the  state  as  declared  in  general  legislation. 

The  output  of  city  ordinances  generally  varies  with  the  size 
of  the  city;  and  in  the  large  cities  the  enormous  total  is  far 
beyond  the  power  of  any  individual  to  comprehend.  The 
New  York  ordinances  make  a  comparatively  small  volume 
of  250  pages;  but  this  is  because  so  much  that  elsewhere  is 
done  by  council  ordinance  is  done  for  New  York  by  legisla- 
tive enactments  and  is  found  in  the  city  charter,  while  many 
ordinances  are  established  by  the  police,  health,  and  other 
administrative  departments.  The  Chicago  ordinances  are 
in  two  thick  volumes  of  1000  pages  each;  those  of  St.  Louis 
cover  more  than  500  large  pages  of  fine  print;  small  cities 
usually  have  all  their  ordinances  in  a  pamphlet  of  perhaps  not 
more  than  100  pages. 

In  most  cases  this  mass  of  municipal  law  is  printed  without 
any  attempt  at  systematic  classification.  A  frequent  method 
is  to  arrange  the  ordinances  by  subjects,  in  alphabetical  order. 
The  city  of  Nashville,  however,  commendably  publishes  its 
ordinances  according  to  a  definite  system  which  groups  to- 
gether those  covering  related  subjects.  The  first  part  pre- 
sents the  ordinances  relating  to  the  election  and  appointment 
of  municipal  ofiicers.  The  second  part  gives  the  ordinances 
governing  the  duties  of  the  various  municipal  departments. 
The  third  part  has  the  police  regulations  affecting  the  general 
public,  in  two  divisions:  one  containing  the  ordinances  to 
secure  order,  decency,  and  good  morals;  the  other,  the  ordi- 
nances for  public  convenience  and  safety.  The  fourth  part 
includes  the  ordinances  on  financial  affairs,  including  the 


140 


ESSAYS  IN  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


permanent  tax  laws,  the  annual  budget,  and  ordinances  pro- 
viding for  bond  issues.  The  fifth  part  gives  the  munici- 
pal and  ward  boundaries.  In  an  appendix  are  collected 
the  grants  and  franchises  to  railroads,  lighting  plants,  tele- 
graph and  telephone  companies,  and  other  special  privileges. 

STATISTICS 

Tabulated  statistics  are  presented  below,  showing  the  or- 
ganization of  the  municipal  councils  in  nearly  all  the  American 
cities  which,  according  to  the  census  of  1900,  had  a  population 
of  25,000  or  more. 


STATISTICS  OF  AMERICAN   CITY   COUNCILS 

1903 

Single  or  La 

RGER 

House 

Smaller 

House 

No.  OF 

How 

No.  OF 

How 

Mem- 

CHOSEN 

Term 

Salary 

Mem- 

chosen 

Term 

Salary 

bers 

(') 

(') 

bers 

(') 

New  York 

79 

73  +  6 

2 

$2000 

Chicago 

70 

2X35 

2 

1500 

Philadelphia 

149 

nX41 

2 

none 

41 

1X41 

3 

none 

St.  Louis 

28 

1X28 

2 

300 

13 

A.L. 

4 

$300 

Boston 

75 

3X25 

1 

300 

13 

A.L. 

2 

1500 

Baltimore 

24 

1X24 

2 

1000 

8 

2 

1000 

Cleveland 

33 

27  +  6 

2 

600 

Buffalo 

25 

1X25 

2 

1000 

9 

A.L. 

4 

1000 

San  Francisco 

18 

A.L. 

2 

1200 

Cincinnati 

32 

26  +  6 

2 

1200 

New  Orleans 

17 

1X17 

4 

240 

Pittsbiu-g 

51 

nx38 

2 

none 

38 

1X38 

4 

none 

Detroit 

34 

2X17 

2 

1200 

Milwaukee 

46 

2X23 

2 

400 

Washington ' 

Newark 

30 

2X15 

2 

Jersey  City 

25 

2X12 

2 

none 

Louisville 

24 

2X12 

2 

12 

A.L. 

2 

Minneapolis 

26 

2X13 

4 

500 

Providence  * 

40 

4X10 

1 

300 

10 

X 

1 

500 

Indianapolis 

21 

15  +  6 

5 

150 

Kansas  City 

14 

1X14 

2 

300 

14 

A.L. 

4 

300 

St.  Paul 

11 

ixii 

2 

100 

9 

A.L. 

2 

100 

Rochester 

20 

1X20 

2 

Denver 

16 

1X16 

2 

1000 

Toledo 

16 

13  +  3 

2 

Allegheny 

40 

nxl5 

2 

none 

15 

4 

none 

Columbus,  0. 

15 

12  +  3  - 

2 

442 

Worcester 

24 

3X8 

1 

none 

9 

2 

none 

Syracuse 
New  Haven 

19 

1X19 

2 

200 

45 

3X15 

2 

30 

2 

AMERICAN  MUNICIPAL  COUNCILS  141 

STATISTICS  OF  AMERICAN  CITY  COUNCILS  — (Confinued) 


Single  ob  Labqeb  Hocse 

Smaller  House 

No.  OF 

How 

No.   OF 

How 

Mem- 

CHOSEN 

Tebm 

Salabt 

Mem- 

CHOSEN 

Teem 

Salabt 

bers 

(') 

(') 

bers 

(0 

(0 

Paterson 

22 

X8 

2 

$400 

Fall  River 

27 

18+9 

2 

St.  Joseph 

15 

2X7 

2 

200 

9 

2 

$200 

Omaha 

9 

3 

900 

Los  Angeles 

9 

1X9 

2 

1200 

Memphis ' 

11 

A.L. 

4 

120 

Scran ton 

X21 

4 

Lowell 

27 

3X9 

1 

none 

9 

A.L. 

1 

none 

Albany 

19 

1X19 

2 

500 

Cambridge 

22 

2X11 

1 

11 

A.L. 

1 

Portland,  Or. 

11 

ixii 

2 

none 

Atlanta 

14 

2X7 

2 

300 

7 

1X7 

3 

300 

Grand  Rapids 

24 

2X12 

2 

350 

Dayton 

13 

10  +  3 

2 

350 

Richmond 

35 

nx6 

2 

21 

2 

Nashville 

20 

1X20 

2 

5n 

Seattle 

13 

9  +  4 

3-4 

900 

Hartford 

40 

4X10 

1 

none 

20 

X 

2 

none 

Reading 

16 

1X16 

2 

none 

Wilmington,  Del. 

13 

2 

240 

Camden,  N.J. 

25 

2X12 

2 

Trenton,  N.J. 

28 

2X14 

2 

Bridgeport,  Conn. 

24 

1X24 

2 

none 

Lynn,  Mass. 

25 

nX7 

1 

11 

A.L. 

1 

300 

Oakland,  Cal. 

11 

? 

2 

480 

Lawrence,  Mass. 

18 

3X6 

1 

none 

6 

1X6 

1 

none 

New  Bedford,  Mass. 

24 

4X6 

1 

none 

6 

1 

100 

Des  Moines,  la. 

9 

7  +  2 

2 

250 

Springfield,  Mass. 

18 

nx8 

2 

8 

2 

Somerville,  Mass. 

14 

2X7 

1 

none 

7 

1 

none 

Troy,  N.Y. 

17 

1X17 

2 

Hoboken,  N.J. 

10 

2X5 

2 

400 

Evansville,  Ind. 

11 

7  +  4 

4 

150 

Manchester,  N.H. 

30 

3X10 

2 

none 

10 

X 

2 

3C) 

Utica,  N.Y. 

15 

1X15 

2 

300 

Peoria,  111. 

14 

2X7 

2 

3(«) 

Charleston,  S.C. 

24 

12  +  12 

4 

Savannah,  Ga. 

12 

A.L. 

2 

none 

Salt  Lake  City 

15 

3X5 

2 

420 

San  Antonio,  Tex. 

12 

8  +  4 

2 

5('') 

Duluth,  Minn. 

16 

2X8 

2 

300 

Erie,  Pa. 

12 

2X6 

Elizabeth,  N.J. 

24 

2X12 

2 

1 

Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 

16 

1X16 

2 

Kansas  City,  Kan. 

Harrisburg,  Pa. 

2 

none 

Portland,  Me. 

27 

3X9 

1 

9 

X 

1 

Yonkers,  N.Y. 

14 

2X7 

500 

Norfolk,  Va. 

142  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

STATISTICS  OF  AMERICAN   CITY  COV^CILS  — (Continued) 


Single  or  Larger  House 

Smaller  House 

No.  OF 

How 

No.  OF     How 

Mem- 

CHOSEN 

Teem 

Salary 

Mem-  CHOSEN 

Term 

Salary 

bers 

(•) 

(') 

BERS 

(') 

(') 

Waterbury,  Conn. 

15 

3X5 

2 

none 

Holyoke,  Mass. 

21 

7  +  14 

Fort  Wayne,  Ind. 

20 

2X10 

2 

$150 

Youngstown,  0. 

10 

7  +  3 

2 

150 

Houston,  Tex. 

12 

A.L. 

SO 

Covington,  Ky. 

Akron,  O. 

10 

7  +  3 

Dallas,  Tex. 

12 

8  +  4 

2 

120 

Saginaw,  Mich. 

20 

1X20 

2 

2('') 

Lancaster,  Pa. 

27 

3X9 

1 

? 

Lincoln,  Neb. 

X7 

2 

300 

Brockton,  Mass. 

21 

3X7 

1 

7 

1X7 

1 

Binghamton,  N.Y. 

13 

1X13 

2 

300 

Augusta,  Ga. 

15 

3X5 

3 

150 

Pawtucket,  R.I.'* 

18 

nx5 

1 

100 

6 

5  +  1 

1 

$150 

Altoona,  Pa. 

WheeUng,  W.  Va. 

28 

nX8 

2 

none 

16 

2X8 

4 

none 

Mobile,  Ala. 

8 

1X8 

3 

none 

7 

A.L. 

3 

none 

Birmingham,  Ala. 

18 

2X9 

4 

none 

Little  Rock,  Ark. 

16 

2X8 

2 

120 

Springfield,  0. 

9 

6  +  3 

Galveston,  Tex. 

4 

A.L. 

2 

500 

Tacoma,  Wash. 

16 

2X8 

2 

300 

Haverhill,  Mass. 

14 

2X7 

1 

none 

7 

1 

none 

Spokane,  Wash. 
Terre  Haute,  Ind. 

9 

6  +  3 

2 

150 

Dubuque,  la. 

7 

5  +  2 

2 

300 

Quincy,  111. 

14 

2X7 

2 

156 

South  Bend,  Ind. 

10 

7  +  3 

2 

150 

Salem,  Mass. 

24 

4X6 

1 

none 

Johnstown,  Pa. 

21 

1X21 

2 

21 

1X21 

4 

Elmira,  N.Y. 

24 

2X12 

2 

100 

Allentown,  Pa. 

22 

2X11 

Davenport,  la. 

8 

6  +  2 

2 

300 

McKeesport,  Pa. 

22 

2X11 

2 

none 

11 

ixii 

2 

none 

Springfield,  111. 

14 

2X7 

2 

156 

Chelsea,  Mass. 

15 

5X10 

1-2 

Chester,  Pa. 

22 

2X11 

2 

none 

York,  Pa. 

Maiden,  Mass. 

21 

3X7 

1 

7 

1X7 

1 

Topeka,  Kan. 

X6 

2 

200 

Newton,  Mass. 

21 

14X7 

1-2 

Sioux  City,  la. 

10 

8X2 

2 

200 

Bayonne,  N.J. 

11 

10+1 

2 

Knoxville,  Tenn. 

Xll 

Chattanooga,  Tenn. 

12 

A.L. 

2 

100 

8 

1X8 

2 

75 

Schenectady,  N.Y. 

22 

2 

75 

Fitchburg,  Mass. 

18 

3X6 

1 

6 

1 

Superior,  Wis. 

20 

2X10 

2 

300 

AMERICAN  MUNICIPAL  COUNCILS 


143 


STATISTICS  OF  AMERICAN  CITY  COUNCILS  —  (Continued) 

Single  oe  Larger  House 

Smaller  House 

No.  OF 

How 

No.  of 

How 

MEM- 

CHOSEN 

Term 

Salary 

Mem- 

CHOSEN 

Term 

Salary 

BERS 

(•) 

(') 

bers 

(■) 

(') 

Rockford,  111. 

14 

2X7 

2 

$3(») 

Taunton,  Mass. 

24 

3X8 

1 

none 

8 

1X8 

1 

none 

Canton,  0. 

9 

6  +  3 

2 

? 

Butte,  Mont. 

16 

2X8 

2 

300 

Montgomery,  Ala. 

15 

12  +  3 

2 

Auburn,  N.Y. 

10 

IX  10 

2 

none 

East  St.  Louis,  111. 

14 

2X7 

2 

SC) 

Joliet,  111. 

14 

2X7 

2 

3(«) 

Sacramento,  Cal. 

9 

1X9 

4 

250 

Racine,  Wis. 

14 

2X7 

2 

none 

LaCrosse,  Wis. 

10 

1X20 

4 

none 

Williamsport,  Pa. 

26 

2X13 

2 

13 

4 

Jacksonville,  Fla. 

18 

2X9 

2 

2(») 

Newcastle,  Pa. 

14 

2X7 

7 

Newport,  Ky. 

12 

2 

3(«) 

5 

A.L. 

2 

$3(«) 

Oshkosh,  Wis. 

26 

2X13 

2 

none 

Woonsocket,  R.I. 

15 

3X5 

1 

100 

5 

1x5 

1 

150 

Pueblo,  Colo. 

8 

1X8 

2 

390 

Atlantic  City,  N.J. 

Passaic,  N.J. 

13 

3 

Bay  City,  Mich. 

22 

2X11 

2 

2(») 

Fort  Worth,  Tex. 

9 

1X9 

2 

96 

Lexington,  Ky. 

12 

2 

3C) 

8 

A.L. 

2 

3(») 

Gloucester,  Mass. 

24 

3X8 

1 

none 

8 

1X8 

1 

none 

South  Omaha,  Neb. 

6 

2 

600 

New  Britain,  Conn. 

24 

2 

none 

6 

A.L. 

2 

none 

Council  Bluffs,  la. 

8 

6+2 

2 

250 

Cedar  Rapids,  la. 

10 

8  +  2 

2 

100 

Easton,  Pa. 

24 

2X12 

2 

12 

1X12 

4 

Jackson,  Mich. 

16 

2X8 

2 

75 

*  The  multiplication  sign  ( x  )  indicates  election  by  wards  or  districts, 
the  first  figure  showing  the  number  of  members  from  each  district  (n 
indicating  a  variable  number),  and  the  second  figure  showing  the  num- 
ber of  districts. 

The  plus  sign  (+)  indicates  election  partly  by  districts  and  partly 
at  large.  The  figure  given  first  shows  the  number  of  members  elected 
by  wards;  the  second  figure  shows  the  number  elected  at  large. 

A.  L.  indicates  election  at  large,  on  a  general  ticket  for  the  whole 
city  without  ward  or  district  members. 

*  Annual  salary  is  given  except  where  otherwise  noted. 
'  No  city  council. 

*  A  small  property  qualification  is  required  of  electors  for  the  city 
council. 

*  Members  of  two  administrative  boards  act  jointly  as  the  city  coimcil. 

*  Per  meeting. 


VIII 

RECENT  LEGISLATION  ON  MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES^ 

During  the  past  few  years  there  has  been  much  agitation 
in  the  United  States  in  favor  of  the  extension  of  municipal 
functions.  This  has  had  particular  reference  to  undertak- 
ings which  have  hitherto  been  operated  by  private  corpora- 
tions acting  under  special  franchises  for  the  use  of  the  public 
streets.  There  has  been  a  corresponding  amount  of  dis- 
cussion in  opposition  to  such  proposals,  which  has  been 
strengthened  by  the  criticism  in  Great  Britain  of  what  in 
that  country  has  been  called  municipal  trading.  It  is  not  the 
purpose  of  this  article  to  consider  the  arguments  on  either 
side  of  this  prolonged  debate;  but  it  is  intended  simply  to 
present  a  brief  record  of  recent  legislation,  showing  the  de- 
velopment of  municipal  activities  in  our  own  country. 

It  is  no  easy  matter  to  bring  together  even  the  most  im- 
portant facts  for  such  an  account.  The  legislation  on  the 
subject  is  not  only  voluminous,  but  most  of  it  applies  to 
particular  cities,  and  much  of  it  deals  with  petty  details,^ 
which  make  it  difficult  to  realize  the  general  tendencies. 

Within  the  period  to  be  covered,  however,  there  have  been 
a  few  municipal  laws  of  a  general  nature,  which  stand  out  in 

*  Rewritten  from  articles  in  the  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 
of  Social  and  Political  Science,  March,  1905,  and  the  New  York  State 
Library  Reviews  of  State  Legislation. 

'  Thus  in  1904  there  were  66  special  city  laws  for  particular  cities  in 
New  York  State,  43  in  Massachusetts,  40  in  Louisiana,  25  in  Maryland, 
and  even  10  in  Virginia  where  a  comprehensive  general  law  had  been 
enacted  the  previous  year.  Of  the  New  York  laws  no  less  than  21  applied 
to  New  York  City,  including  acts  for  such  trivial  matters  as  a  change 
in  the  salaries  of  chaplains  in  the  fire  department,  and  creating  the  office 
of  chief  lineman  for  the  police  telegraph  service. 
L  145 


146  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

marked  contrast  to  the  prevailing  system  of  special  legisla- 
tion. The  most  important  of  these  is  the  mmiicipal  code  of 
Ohio,  enacted  in  1902,  to  correct  a  situation  brought  about 
by  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  that  state.  These 
decisions  had  declared  unconstitutional  a  great  mass  of 
legislation  passed  during  the  preceding  fifty  years,  to  cir- 
cumvent the  constitutional  requirement  of  general  uniform 
legislation.  This  new  code  gives  to  every  municipality  in 
the  state  the  same  authority,  and  thus  has  extended  to  all 
every  power  previously  exercised  by  any  one.  In  1903  the 
Virginia  assembly  passed  a  law  reenacting  and  amending 
the  statutes  in  reference  to  cities  and  towns,  to  meet  the 
conditions  of  the  new  state  constitution;  and  in  the  same 
year  a  New  Jersey  act  was  passed  for  the  government  of  all 
cities  which  adopt  it.  In  1905  a  new  municipal  code  was 
enacted  in  Indiana. 

The  general  tendency  of  these  and  other  measures  is  in 
the  direction  of  increasing  the  functions  of  municipahties  in 
the  United  States,  but  at  the  same  time  to  do  so  by  continu- 
ing the  policy  of  specific  enumerated  grants  of  power  and 
minute  legislative  control  over  the  cities.  There  is  no  evi- 
dence of  any  change  to  the  policy  of  the  countries  of  con- 
tinental Europe,  where  cities  have  general  authority  to 
undertake  any  functions  affecting  the  interests  of  the  city, 
subject  only  to  the  specific  restrictions  and  regulations  im- 
posed by  the  central  administration.  Along  with  this  increase 
in  the  active  operations  of  cities  may  be  noted  a  tendency 
to  restrict  the  discretion  of  city  councils  in  granting  franchises 
conferring  special  privileges  in  the  public  streets. 

PUBLIC   SAFETY 

Turning  to  an  examination  of  more  specific  functions,  we 
may  note  first  the  situation  in  the  field  of  public  safety,  or 
the  measures  for  protecting  life,  liberty,  and  property.  Here 
the  most  striking  changes  have  been,  not  in  the  direction  of 
extending  municipal  activities,  but  in  the  assumption  by  the 


RECENT  LEGISLATION  ON  MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS        147 

states  of  functions  formerly  left  to  local  communities.  This 
has  been  done  in  two  ways:  by  the  establishment  of  small 
bodies  of  state  police,  for  service  throughout  the  state ;  and 
by  giving  the  management  of  municipal  police  to  state-ap- 
pointed boards. 

Apparently  the  first  action  in  reference  to  a  distinctively 
state  police  was  taken  by  Massachusetts  in  1865,  when  a 
small  force  of  state  constables  was  established  mainly  for 
the  enforcement  of  the  law  prohibiting  the  liquor  traffic. 
On  the  repeal  of  the  prohibition  law  in  1875  the  state  police 
was  continued  as  a  detective  force  to  aid  in  the  suppression 
of  disorder  and  the  enforcement  of  criminal  laws,  and  its 
functions  have  since  been  extended  to  include  the  inspection 
of  factories.  More  recently  the  office  of  fire  marshal,  for  the 
investigation  of  fires,  has  been  incorporated  with  the  state 
police.^  Rhode  Island  in  1886  established  a  chief  of  state 
police  with  powers  of  direction  over  the  sheriffs  and  local  po- 
lice, in  connection  with  the  enforcement  of  the  prohibition 
law  then  reenacted  in  that  state.^  But  this  office  lasted 
only  a  few  years.  Another  brief  experiment  with  state  police 
was  made  by  New  Jersey  from  1891  to  1894. 

Soon  after  the  establishment  of  the  system  of  state  liquor 
dispensaries,  South  Carolina  (in  1896)  established  a  force  of 
state  constables  to  aid  in  the  enforcement  of  liquor  laws.' 
A  statute  of  1903  further  regulates  the  organization  of  this 
force.  The  governor  appoints  the  chief  state  constable,  who 
receives  a  salary  of  $1500  a  year,  and  this  officer  appoints 
seven  assistant  chief  constables  and  other  state  constables  to 
assist  him  in  his  work.  Connecticut  has  also  organized  a  body 
of  state  pofice  (in  1903)  similar  to  that  in  Massachusetts, 
specially  for  the  enforcement  of  the  laws  relating  to  intoxi- 

*  R.  H.  Whitten,  Public  Administration  in  Massachusetts,  ch.  6. 
(Columbia  University  Studies,  Vol.  VIII:) 

*  C.  M.  L.  Sites,  Centralized  Administraiion  of  Liquor  Laws,  p.  72. 
(Columbia  University  Studies,  Vol.  X.) 

^  Ibid.,  pp.  73,  118. 


148  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

eating  liquors  and  gaming,  and  taking  over  the  functions  of 
the  state  fire  marshal.  There  is  provided  a  superintendent 
of  police  at  $3000  a  year,  an  assistant  superintendent,  and 
from  five  to  ten  police  officers,  all  selected  by  a  board  of  five 
unpaid  commissioners,  who  in  turn  are  to  be  chosen  biennially 
by  the  judges  of  the  Superior  Court. 

In  1905  a  similar  force  of  state  police  was  organized  in 
Pennsylvania,  for  use  primarily  in  the  mining  regions.  It 
to  some  extent  takes  the  place  of  the  coal  and  iron  pohce 
formerly  employed  by  the  mining  corporations,  but  also 
serves  to  save  the  state  the  frequent  use  of  the  state  militia 
to  suppress  disorders  in  time  of  extensive  strikes.  It  consists 
of  a  superintendent  and  four  companies  aggregating  230 
men,  appointed  after  a  physical  and  mental  examination. 

Of  a  somewhat  different  nature  are  the  bodies  of  mounted 
rangers  established  in  less  settled  regions  for  the  suppression 
of  violent  disorder  and  the  protection  of  the  Mexican  frontier. 
The  Texas  rangers,  organized  in  1901,  may  consist  of  four 
companies,  each  composed  of  twenty-two  men,  the  captains 
and  the  quartermaster  in  command  of  the  whole  force  being 
appointed  by  the  governor  of  the  state.  In  Arizona  the 
rangers  as  reorganized  in  1903  consist  of  twenty-six  men 
mustered  into  service  by  the  governor  of  the  territory.  Both 
in  Texas  and  Arizona  the  governors  strongly  commend  the 
work  of  these  rangers;  and  in  1905  a  company  of  mounted 
police  was  established  for  similar  purposes  in  the  territory  of 
New  Mexico. 

State-appointed  police  boards  for  particular  cities  have 
been  established  for  some  time  in  a  considerable  number  of 
cities.  New  York  had  such  a  board  from  1857  to  1870; 
and  during  that  period  similar  boards  were  established  for 
large  cities  in  other  states.  Then  came  a  period  when  most 
of  the  state  boards  were  abolished.  But  since  1885  there 
has  been  a  revival  of  this  system;  and  it  is  in  existence  in 
St.  Louis,  Boston,  Baltimore,  San  Francisco,  Kansas  City, 
Mo.,  Fall  River,  St.  Joseph,  Birmingham,  Manchester,  N.H., 


RECENT   LEGISLATION  ON   MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS        149 

and  eleven  Indiana  cities/  Still  more  recently  state  police 
boards  were  provided  for  Newport  and  Providence,  R.I., 
but  these  have  since  been  put  in  process  of  extinction.  The 
new  Ohio  code  contains  a  provision  under  which  boards  of 
public  safety  are  appointed  by  the  governor  of  the  state 
when  the  mayor's  nominations  are  not  confirmed  by  two- 
thirds  of  the  council;  and  in  a  number  of  cities  the  governor 
has  been  called  on  to  act  under  this  provision.  In  1905 
state  police  boards  were  provided  for  the  New  Hampshire 
cities  of  Keene  and  Berlin.  In  Indiana,  however,  a  statute 
of  1901  to  place  the  police  and  fire  departments  of  Fort 
Wayne,  Terre  Haute,  and  South  Bend  under  state  boards 
of  public  safety  has  been  declared  unconstitutional.  The 
police  of  Cincinnati  and  Denver  have  within  the  past  few 
years  been  transferred  from  the  control  of  state  boards  to 
locally  appointed  authorities. 

In  1906  the  state  police  board  for  Boston  was  replaced  by 
a  single  commissioner  and  an  excise  board;  but  both  of 
these  authorities  are  appointed  by  the  governor  and  council. 

A  good  deal  of  legislation  has  also  been  enacted  in  regard 
to  local  boards  of  police  and  fire  commissioners.  Special 
mention  may  be  made  of  a  Louisiana  Act  of  1904  reorganiz- 
ing the  police  administration  of  New  Orleans.  And  in  1907, 
a  special  act  has  greatly  increased  the  authority  of  the  police 
commissioner  of  New  York  City  over  the  subordinate  police 
officers  in  that  city. 

One  of  the  most  important  developments  of  municipal 
activity  in  the  field  of  public  safety  has  been  the  work  of  the 
new  tenement  house  department  in  the  city  of  New  York 
established  in  1902.  This  department  took  over  the  powers 
over  tenement  houses  formerly  exercised  by  the  departments 
of  health,  fire,  and  police,  and  has  important  additional 
powers  under  the  statutes  providing  for  the  new  department. 
It  conducts  an  elaborate  system  of  inspections  of  old  buildings, 

*  Terre  Haute,  South  Bend,  Anderson,  Elkhart,  Richmond,  Hunt- 
ington, Jefifersonville,  La  Fayette,  Logansport,  Muncie,  and  New  Albany. 


150  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

and  requires  repairs  and  improvements  so  as  to  render  them 
sanitary,  safe,  and  habitable.  It  also  supervises  the  con- 
struction of  new  buildings,  and  makes  systematic  inspections 
to  see  that  there  are  no  violations  of  the  provisions  of  the 
law  to  secure  stability  of  structure,  protection  from  fire,  and 
adequate  sanitary  conditions.  But  the  requirements  of  the 
law  still  permit  a  much  greater  degree  of  compact  building 
in  New  York  than  in  the  largest  cities  of  Europe.  In  Germany, 
dwelling  houses  even  in  the  business  sections  must  have  at 
least  one-third  of  the  area  of  building  lots  left  as  courtyards, 
and  in  residence  sections  at  least  a  half  .^  In  New  York  only 
one-fourth  of  the  lot  area  must  be  left  unbuilt. 

PUBLIC  WORKS 

Steady  advance  is  being  made  by  American  cities  in  pro- 
viding street  paving,  street  cleaning,  garbage  disposal,  sewer 
systems,  parks,  and  similar  public  improvements.  This 
development,  however,  is  rather  the  extension  of  established 
fields  of  municipal  action  than  the  inauguration  of  a  new 
policy.  But  it  is  significant  of  the  niggardly  methods  in 
legislative  grants  of  municipal  powers  that  even  for  these 
functions,  clearly  accepted  as  within  the  proper  scope  of 
municipal  work,  a  great  deal  of  additional  legislation  must 
be  passed  every  year  authorizing  the  necessary  undertakings 
and  modifying  the  methods  of  procedure  and  assessment. 
In  regard  to  street  paving,  a  novel  feature  has  been  the 
establishment  of  municipal  asphalt  plants  in  Detroit  and  some 
other  cities,  to  repair  and  resurface  asphalt  pavements  by 
direct  labor  instead  of  making  contracts  for  this  class  of 
work.  In  a  number  of  cities  direct  municipal  labor  may  now 
be  employed  in  place  of  contracts  for  a  large  variety  of  public 
improvements.  Some  street  cleaning  is  now  done  in  most 
American  cities;  and  with  comparatively  few  exceptions  by 
a  force  of  municipal  employees.  The  latest  returns  on  this 
subject  are  shown  in  the  following  table :  *  — 

*  C.  Hugo,  Deutsche  Stadtverwaltung,  pp.  429,  430. 
'  Engineering  News,  XLVIII,  422. 


RECENT  LEGISLATION   ON   MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS        151 


Gboups  of  Cities 

Number  op 
Places 

Number 
Reporting 

Street 
Cleaning 

Munici- 
pal Em- 
ployees 

CONTBACI 

Both 

Over  30,000  pop'n  .     . 
10,000-30,000      .     .     . 

5,000-10,000      .     ,     . 

3,000-  5,000      .     .     . 

135 
304 
465 
620 

132 

291 

435 

16 

115 
272 
386 
466 

9 
13 
30 
31 

7 
4 
9 
5 

1524 

874 

1239 

83 

25 

Probably  the  most  extensive  scheme  of  municipal  engineer- 
ing works  in  recent  years  have  been  those  connected  with 
the  reconstruction  of  Baltimore  after  the  disastrous  fire  of 
February,  1904.  A  series  of  special  acts  in  1904  established 
a  special  commission  to  prepare  and  execute  plans  for  street 
improvements,  public  squares,  and  market-places,  the  en- 
largement of  the  harbors  and  wharves ;  and  authorized  loans 
aggregating  $19,000,000  for  street  improvements,  sewerage, 
and  parks.  In  1906  an  additional  loan  of  $5,000,000  for 
street  improvements  was  authorized.  In  Niw  Orleans,  also, 
an  extensive  system  of  underground  sewers  has  at  last 
been  constructed,  and  important  additions  to  the  public 
wharves  and  warehouses  have  been  undertaken. 

Many  smaller  cities  are  introducing  public  sewers ;  and  the 
general  situation  in  regard  to  sewerage  systems  is  indicated 
in  the  following  table :  ^  — 


Gboups  of  Cities 


Over  30,000 
10,000-30,000 
5,000-10,000 
3,000-  5,000 


Number 
of  Places 


135 
303 
463 
623 


1524 


Number 

WITH 

Sewebs 


131 
277 
364 
324 


1096 


Public 

WOBKS 


1045 


Private 
Com- 
panies 


131 

269 

8 

346 

15 

299 

19 

42 


» Municipal  Year  Book,  1902. 


152  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

Two  undertakings  of  special  importance  for  the  final  dis- 
posal of  sewage  should  also  be  noted.  In  1900  the  Chicago 
drainage  canal  was  opened,  much  to  the  improvement  of  the 
Chicago  River;  and  since  then  there  has  been  a  steady  prog- 
ress in  the  work  of  connecting  other  parts  of  the  sewer  net- 
work in  the  drainage  district  with  the  canal.  In  1902  a  state 
commission  was  established  in  New  Jersey  to  construct  trunk 
outfall  sewers  to  carry  the  drainage  from  the  cities  of  the 
densely  populated  Passaic  Valley,  and  a  year  later  the  issue 
of  $9,000,000  in  fifty-year  bonds  was  authorized  for  this  work. 

Other  works  for  the  improvement  of  sanitary  conditions 
are  water  purification  plants.  The  most  important  new 
works  of  this  kind  are  those  under  way  in  Philadelphia  and 
Pittsburg. 

Any  important  addition  to  the  park  systems  of  American 
cities  seems  to  require  additional  legislation,  and  numerous 
acts  in  regard  to  parks  are  passed  every  year.  Among  the 
more  important  may  be  noted  a  series  of  Illinois  acts,  in  1905, 
intended  for  the  city  of  Chicago,  which  granted  additional 
bonding  and  taxing  power  for  park  purposes,  in  order  to 
provide  new  small  parks  and  an  outer  belt  of  parks.  An  act 
of  1906  authorized  the  city  of  New  York  to  establish  a  sea- 
side park  in  or  near  the  city,  where  municipal  hospitals  may 
be  erected.  The  Rhode  Island  legislature  has  established 
a  metropolitan  park  commission  for  Providence  and  the 
surrounding  cities  and  towns. 

MUNICIPAL  OWNERSHIP 

Attempts  to  extend  municipal  activity  into  the  disputed 
field  of  "pubhc  utilities"  meet  with  varying  degrees  of  suc- 
cess with  respect  to  different  classes  of  undertakings.  New 
municipal  waterworks  are  frequently  authorized  and  estab- 
lished. In  1904  no  less  than  thirty  acts  were  passed  for 
the  construction  or  extension  of  such  works  in  particular 
cities.  Memphis  is  the  most  important  city  to  change  recently 
from  a  private  to  a  mimicipal  plant.    Extensive  new  water- 


RECENT  LEGISLATION  ON  MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS 


153 


supply  systems  have  been  authorized  for  New  York  City  and 
Cincinnati.  Municipal  electric  lighting  plants  have  also 
been  increasing  in  number  and  importance.  Municipal 
street  railways  are  still  only  in  the  stage  of  discussion  and 
agitation. 

Recent  investigations  make  possible  a  definite  record  of 
the  status  of  municipal  undertakings  of  these  kinds.  In 
reference  to  waterworks,  the  following  table  shows  the 
situation  in  1902:^  — 


Groups  of  Cities 

Total 
Number  of 
Water- 
Works 

Number  of 

Municipal 

Works 

Per  Cent 

Municipaij 

Over  30,000  population    .... 
10,000-30,000  population      .     .     . 

5,000-10,000  population     .     .     . 

3,000-5,000  population       .     .     . 

135 

302 

458 
580 

95 

152 
234 
318 

70.4 
50 
50.1 
50.5 

New  England  States 

Middle  States 

North  Central  States 

Northwestern  States 

South  Atlantic  States 

South  Central  States 

Southwestern  States 

Pacific  States 

226 
335 
372 
150 
107 

91 
124 

70 

143 
140 
243 
86 
64 
36 
55 
32 

63.2 
41.7 
65.3 
57.3 
59.8 
39.5 
43.5 
45.7 

United  States 

1475 

799 

54.2 

A  more  exhaustive  investigation,  including  the  smaller 
towns,  made  in  1898  by  the  United  States  Department  of 
Labor,  showed  a  total  of  1787  municipal  waterworks,  and 
1539  under  private  control.  It  should  be  noted,  however, 
that  the  higher  proportion  of  municipal  works  among  the 
large  cities  increases  the  significance  of  municipal  works  as 
a  whole.  In  1898  the  total  investment  in  municipal  plants 
was  nearly  double  that  in  private  works.' 

From  the  census  report  on  central  electric  light  and  power 


*  Municipal  Year  Book,  1902,  pp.  xxix,  xxxi. 

^  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  1899,  p.  12. 


154 


ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 


stations,  the  following  data  have  been  compiled  showing  the 
number  and  distribution  of  municipal  plants  in  1902 :  *  — 


Gboups  of  Cities 

Total,    Number 
Electric 
Stations 

Number 
Mdnicipal 

Per  Cent 
Municipal 

New  England  States 

Middle  States 

North  Central  States 

Northwestern  States 

South  Atlantic  States 

South  Central  States 

Southwestern  States 

Pacific  States 

314 
641 
1112 
511 
209 
205 
381 
251 

35 
79 
341 
145 
64 
64 
62 
25 

11.1 
12.3 
30.7 
28.4 
30.6 
31.2 
16.3 
10 

United  States 

3624 

815 

22.5 

As  municipal  electric  light  works  are  found  mostly  in  small 
cities,  these  figures  exaggerate  the  importance  of  municipal 
lighting.  Measured  by  horse  power  and  output  in  kilowatts, 
the  municipal  plants  furnish  about  8  per  cent  or  9  per  cent 
of  the  electric  lighting  and  about  20  per  cent  of  the  public 
street  lighting.  In  the  states  where  municipal  plants  are 
most  frequent  the  proportion  is  naturally  much  higher,  the 
maximum  for  any  state  being  found  in  Michigan,  where 
municipal  plants  furnish  about  30  per  cent  of  the  total  electric 
lighting  and  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  public  street  lighting. 

Municipal  gas-works  are  still  very  infrequent  in  the  United 
States.  In  1902  there  were  only  twenty,  as  compared  with 
961  cities  with  private  gas-works ;  while  the  municipal  works 
are  in  small  cities,  and  their  total  output  is  less  than  one 
per  cent  of  the  illuminating  gas  produced.^ 

While  there  is  now  no  street  railway  operated  by  a  munici- 
pal government  in  this  country,  Boston  and  New  York  have 
extensive  municipal  underground  roads,  which  are  leased 
for  a  term  of  years  to  operating  companies.  To  the  original 
Boston  subway,  completed  some  years  ago,  there  has  been 
added  a  tunnel  under  the  harbor  to  East  Boston,  and  a  new 


>  Census  Bulletin,  Nov.  5,  1903. 
» Census  Bulletin,  No.  123. 


RECENT  LEGISLATION  ON  MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS        155 

subway  under  Washington  Street;  while  additional  lines 
are  to  be  built  to  Cambridge  and  other  places  in  the  metro- 
politan district.  A  much  larger  undertaking  has  been  the 
New  York  subway.  The  first  lines  contracted  for,  sixteen 
miles  in  length  and  costing  $35,000,000,  were  opened  to  service 
in  October,  1904;  a  second  line  under  the  East  River  to 
Brooklyn  is  practically  completed;  and  many  additional 
lines  have  been  planned. 

In  addition  to  the  special  legislation  authorizing  particular 
municipal  undertakings  of  this  kind  for  individual  cities, 
there  has  been  enacted  within  the  past  few  years  a  number 
of  statutes  conferring  broader  and  more  general  authority 
on  cities.  The  new  Ohio  municipal  code  authorizes  munici- 
pal waterworks  and  electric  lighting  plants  in  every  city 
in  that  state;  and  the  law  governing  bond  issues  confers 
financial  powers  sufficient  to  make  the  grant  effective.  A 
Missouri  act  of  1903,  applying  to  cities  of  less  than  30,000 
population,  is  the  broadest  in  the  scope  of  powers  conferred. 
This  authorizes  such  municipalities  to  imdertake  any  public 
utility,  and  specifies  not  only  waterworks  and  light,  heat, 
and  power  plants,  but  also  telephones  and  street  railways. 
Such  undertakings  will  be  under  the  control  of  a  board  of 
public  works  consisting  of  four  members  appointed  by  the 
mayor  and  council,  not  more  than  two  of  the  same  political 
party.  This  act  is,  however,  not  likely  to  extend  very  largely 
the  scope  of  municipal  action,  as  there  is  no  provision  for 
financing  these  undertakings  either  by  the  issue  of  bonds  or 
in  any  other  way.  A  Kansas  act  of  the  same  year  authorizes, 
in  cities  under  15,000  population,  municipal  waterworks, 
and  gas,  oil,  and  electric  plants,  to  secure  which  bonds  may  be 
issued  on  a  vote  of  the  electors,  up  to  the  general  debt  limit 
of  15  per  cent  of  the  assessed  value  of  the  property.  The 
general  municipal  act  for  larger  Kansas  cities  only  provides 
for  municipal  water  and  lighting  plants  at  some  time  in  the 
future,  but  Atchison  and  Leavenworth  have  received  special 
authority  to  establish  municipal  waterworks. 


156  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

A  California  act  of  1903,  amending  the  powers  of  cities 
under  3000  population,  adds  authority  to  establish  and 
manage  waterworks,  wharves,  street  railways,  telephone 
and  telegraph  hues,  and  lighting  and  heating  plants;  but 
like  the  Missouri  act,  this  fails  to  give  adequate  financial 
powers.  Under  the  new  general  municipal  law  in  Virginia, 
cities  are  authorized  to  provide  waterworks;  and  bonds 
issued  with  the  approval  of  the  voters  for  this  or  other  rev- 
enue-producing undertakings  are  not  included  within  the 
debt  limit  so  long  as  the  revenue  is  sufficient  to  pay  the  cost 
of  maintenance,  interest  on  bonds  and  insurance,  and  to 
provide  a  sinking-fund. 

Perhaps  the  most  significant  statute  of  recent  years  pro- 
viding for  an  extension  of  municipal  administration  in  this 
direction  is  an  Illinois  act  of  1903,  authorizing  the  cities  in 
that  state  to  own  and  operate  street  railways.  This  act  is 
of  special  importance  because,  in  addition  to  the  formal 
grant  of  authority,  there  is  a  careful  attempt  to  provide 
a  satisfactory  method  of  meeting  the  serious  financial  diffi- 
culties involved  in  this  new  departure,  so  that  the  grant  of 
power  might  be  effective  and  adequate  whenever  it  is  con- 
sidered advisable  to  make  use  of  the  authority. 

This  act  applies  to  all  cities  in  the  state  of  Illinois,  but 
before  any  of  the  powers  conferred  can  be  exercised,  the  act 
must  first  be  adopted  as  a  whole  by  popular  referendum  in 
the  city  concerned,  while  additional  referendum  votes  must 
be  taken  in  reference  to  various  special  features  of  the  law. 
The  authority  given  is  "to  construct,  acquire,  purchase, 
maintain,  and  operate  street  railways  within  the  corporate 
limits,"  and  franchises  granted  before  this  power  is  acted  on 
may  contain  a  reservation  of  the  right  on  the  part  of  the  city 
to  take  over  the  plant  at  some  future  time.  Two  methods 
are  provided  for  securing  funds  for  purchasing  or  construct- 
ing municipal  railways.  .General  city  bonds  may  be  issued, 
provided  the  proposition  is  submitted  to  popular  vote  and 
approved  by  two-thirds  of  those  voting,  but  the  debt  limit 


RECENT  LEGISLATION  ON  MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS        157 

is  almost  certain  to  prevent  this  method  from  being  adopted. 
The  other  alternative  —  and  this  is  the  most  striking  feature 
of  the  act  —  is  to  issue  street  railway  certificates,  secured 
by  a  mortgage  on  the  railway,  giving  the  mortgagee  in  case 
of  foreclosure  the  right  to  maintain  and  operate  the  road 
for  a  period  of  not  over  twenty  years.  An  ordinance  provid- 
ing for  such  certificates  must,  however,  be  submitted  to 
popular  vote  and  be  approved  by  a  majority  of  those  voting 
on  the  question.  It  was  expected  that  such  certificates  would 
not  be  considered  by  the  courts  as  part  of  the  city  debt 
limited  by  the  state  constitution.  When  a  city  has  secured 
a  street  railway,  it  may  operate  it  under  direct  municipal 
management  only  if  that  policy  is  approved  at  a  popular 
referendum  by  three-fifths  of  those  voting.  Or  the  city 
may  lease  the  road  for  a  period  of  not  over  twenty  years,  but 
any  ordinance  authorizing  a  lease  for  more  than  five  years 
must  be  submitted  to  a  referendum  vote  on  the  petition  of 
10  per  cent  of  the  voters. 

Under  this  law  the  city  of  Chicago  in  1906  voted  for  a 
municipal  street  railway  system;  but  the  proposition  for 
municipal  operation  failed  to  receive  the  necessary  three- 
fifths  vote.  A  year  later  a  new  agreement  with  the  railway 
companies  was  approved  by  popular  vote;  and  soon  after- 
wards the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois  held  that  money  borrowed 
on  the  proposed  street  railway  certificates  must  be  considered 
part  of  the  city  debt,  the  total  of  which  is  closely  limited 
by  the  state  constitution.  Under  these  conditions  municipal 
street  railways  are  not  likely  to  be  established  under  this 
act.^ 

Under  the  new  Indiana  municipal  code  of  1905  municipal 
waterworks,  gas-works  and  electric  light,  heat  and  power 
plants  may  be  established,  after  a  referendum  vote  in  each 
case.  But  the  low  debt  limit  of  two  per  cent  of  the  assessed 
valuation  will  prevent  any  extensive  exercise  of  such  powers. 
In  1906  several  acts  were  passed  by  the  New  Jersey  legisla- 

»  Cf.  Essay  XII. 


158  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

ture  authorizing,  in  general  terms,  municipal  water,  light, 
heat,  and  power  plants.  The  borrowing  power  for  light,  heat, 
and  power  plants  is  closely  limited,  but  greater  freedom  is 
granted  with  reference  to  waterworks. 

The  financial  provisions  of  the  Illinois  street  railway  law 
of  1903  are  being  copied  to  some  extent  in  other  states.  A 
Missouri  law  of  1905,  authorizing  municipal  waterworks  in 
cities  with  a  population  of  3000  to  30,000,  provided  that  the 
funds  should  be  raised  by  mortgage  certificates  on  the  plant. 
And  an  Iowa  act  of  1906  authorizes  mortgage  bonds  on 
municipal  water  plants.  This  method  of  financing  munici- 
pal enterprises  seems  to  offer  a  safe  means  for  making  ex- 
periments in  new  fields,  without  removing  the  limitations 
on  the  general  municipal  debt.  But  in  view  of  the  recent 
decision  of  the  Illinois  Supreme  Court,  it  is  rather  doubtful 
whether  it  can  be  generally  employed  without  amending  the 
state  constitutions. 

In  the  new  Oklahoma  constitution  it  is  provided  that 
"  every  municipal  corporation  .  .  .  shall  have  the  right  to 
engage  in  any  business  or  enterprise  which  may  be  engaged 
in  by  a  person,  firm  or  corporation  by  virtue  of  a  franchise 
from  said  corporation."  But  this  sweeping  grant  will  need 
to  be  supplemented  by  adequate  financial  power  to  become 
effective. 

FRANCHISES  AND  PUBLIC  CONTROL 

Since  1900  a  number  of  states  have  established  general 
conditions  for  franchises  dealing  with  municipal  services, 
and  authorized  municipal  regulation  of  private  companies 
operating  such  services.  A  California  law  of  1901  provides 
that  sales  of  franchises  must  be  advertised,  and  that  the 
city  must  receive  at  least  two  per  cent  of  the  gross  receipts 
after  five  years.  A  South  Carolina  statute  of  1902  authorizes 
the  grant  of  franchises  for  light  and  water-supply,  for  a  term 
of  not  over  thirty  years,  on  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  city 
council,  confirmed  by  a  majority  vote  of  the  electors.  The 
new  Ohio  code  provides  that  street  railroad  franchises  may 


RECENT  LEGISLATION   ON  MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS        159 

be  granted,  for  not  more  than  twenty-five  years,  only  after 
three  weeks'  notice,  to  those  who  offer  the  lowest  rates  of 
fare  and  have  secured  the  consent  of  property  owners  repre- 
senting the  greater  part  of  the  route. 

In  the  new  Virginia  constitution  it  is  provided  that  fran- 
chises for  the  use  of  the  public  streets  shall  not  be  granted 
without  the  consent  of  the  municipal  authorities,  nor  for  a 
term  of  more  than  thirty  years;  and  that  they  may  contain 
provisions  for  public  purchase  at  the  expiration  of  the  term. 
These  constitutional  requirements  have  been  supplemented 
by  an  act  of  1903  regulating  the  granting  of  franchises,  which 
was  afterward  incorporated  with  some  additions  in  the  new 
general  municipal  act.  It  is  now  provided  that  the  streets 
and  public  property  of  cities  and  towns  shall  not  be  alienated 
except  by  a  vote  of  three-fourths  of  the  council,  and  streets 
may  not  be  used  for  street  railways,  water  systems,  gas-pipes, 
telephones,  and  similar  purposes,  except  with  the  consent  of 
the  municipal  authorities.  Franchises  must  be  limited  to 
not  more  than  thirty  years;  and  elaborate  provisions  are 
established  to  insure  publicity  and  competitive  bidding. 
Advertisements  inviting  bids  must  be  published  for  four 
weeks ;  bids  must  be  opened  and  read  in  public  session  of  the 
council ;  if  the  highest  bid  is  not  accepted,  the  franchise  ordi- 
nance must  state  the  reasons  for  preferring  a  lower  bid,  and 
no  amendments  may  be  made  in  the  terms  of  the  grant  with- 
out public  advertisement  for  ten  days.  The  courts  are  given 
authority  to  enforce  by  mandamus  the  terms  of  the  grant.' 
Such  a  franchise  grant  may  provide  that  at  its  expiration  the 
plant  as  well  as  the  property  in  the  streets  may  revert  to 
the  city  either  without  compensation  or  on  a  fair  valuation 
of  the  property,  but  without  including  any  value  for  the  fran- 
chise. The  city  may  then  sell  or  lease  the  property,  or,  if 
authorized  by  law,  may  maintain  and  operate  it.^ 

*The  special  franchise  law  of  1903  was  repealed  in  1904;  but  this 
probably  does  not  affect  the  practically  identical  provisions  in  the  gen- 
eral municipal  corporations  act,  which  was  passed  after  the  franchise 
law. 


160  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

The  Kansas  act  of  1903  for  cities  over  15,000  population 
limits  the  term  of  franchises  to  not  more  than  thirty  years, 
but  contains  none  of  the  provisions  for  publicity  such  as  are 
contained  in  the  Virginia  act.  It  does,  however,  authorize 
the  councils  of  such  cities  to  prescribe  reasonable  rates  for 
water,  electricity,  gas,  telephones,  or  other  commodity  fur- 
nished by  virtue  of  a  franchise,  the  question  of  the  reasonable- 
ness of  the  rate  fixed  being  subject  to  review  by  the  district 
judges.  Waterworks  may  be  purchased  by  a  city  ten  years 
after  a  grant  has  been  made,  but  in  the  case  of  gas  or  electric 
works  or  street  railways  the  city  may  acquire  only  on  the 
termination  of  a  future  grant,  and  when  it  secures  possession 
can  only  lease  the  plant  or  make  a  contract  for  operation. 
Provisions  are  made  for  appraising  the  value  of  the  plant 
in  case  of  purchase.  By  another  act  cities  of  less  than  15,000 
population  may  grant  franchises  for  only  twenty  years,  and 
the  mayor  and  council  may  make  contracts  and  fix  rates  to 
private  consumers. 

Some  other  acts  may  also  be  briefly  noted.  A  Minnesota 
act  of  1903  authorizes  city  councils  to  contract  for  water- 
supply  for  a  term  not  over  thirty  years,  and  for  lighting  for 
a  term  not  over  fifteen  years,  if  there  is  no  municipal  plant. 
No  further  conditions  are  imposed.  Wisconsin  and  Montana 
provided  in  the  same  year  for  a  referendum  on  franchises: 
in  the  first-named  state  on  the  petition  of  twenty  per  cent 
of  the  voters;  in  the  second-named,  the  approval  of  the  resi- 
dent freeholders  is  an  essential  requirement.  In  New  York 
City  the  power  of  granting  franchises  was  transferred,  in 
1905,  from  the  council  to  the  board  of  estimate  and  appor- 
tionment. A  new  charter  to  the  city  of  Grand  Rapids,  Mich., 
in  1905,  contains  elaborate  regulations  in  regard  to  the  grant 
of  franchises.  A  New  Jersey  law  of  1906  provides  that  fran- 
chises in  the  streets  and  public  places  must  require  a  peti- 
tion and  public  notice;  and  grants  by  councils  are  limited 
to  twenty  years,  but  on  a  referendum,  franchises  for  forty 
years  may  be  granted. 


RECENT  LEGISLATION   ON  MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS        161 

On  the  other  hand,  in  the  new  Indiana  municipal  code, 
restrictions  in  the  granting  of  franchises  are  much  relaxed. 
Formerly  franchises  were  limited  to  10  and  34  years  accord- 
ing to  the  purpose,  and  contracts  for  street  lighting  were 
limited  to  10  years.  By  the  new  code,  not  only  are  all  fran- 
chises previously  granted  made  legal,  but  new  franchises 
may  be  granted  with  no  limit  as  to  the  term  or  other  con- 
ditions ;  while  contracts  for  a  supply  of  light,  water,  or  heat 
for  city  purposes  may  be  made  for  as  long  a  period  as  25  years. 
Kansas  and  Colorado  acts  of  the  same  year  (1905)  regulating 
the  granting  of  franchises  in  these  states  also  provide  very 
inadequate  protection  to  the  public  interests. 

Measures  providing  a  more  continuous  system  of  public 
control  over  private  franchise  corporations  have  been  enacted 
in  several  states.  A  New  York  act  of  1905  established 
a  state  gas  and  electricity  commission,  similar  to  that  pre- 
viously existing  in  Massachusetts,  with  large  powers  over 
both  public  and  private  plants,  including  supervision  of 
accounts,  control  of  capitalization,  and  regulation  of  rates. 
In  1907  this  commission  and  the  state  railroad  commission 
were  abolished;  and  two  new  commissions  were  established, 
one  for  the  metropolitan  district  and  one  for  the  remainder 
of  the  state,  each  exercising  control  over  all  public  utility 
corporations.  Both  commissions  are  appointed  by  the  gov- 
ernor, but  the  expenses  of  the  board  for  the  metropolitan 
district  are  to  be  met  by  the  local  authorities.  In  Wisconsin, 
by  statute  of  1907,  the  railroad  commission  has  been  given 
full  powers  of  supervision  and  control  over  all  public  utilities. 

In  New  York  and  Massachusetts  the  state  legislatures 
have  in  1906  directly  regulated  the  price  of  gas  in  the  largest 
cities.  For  the  two  principal  boroughs  of  New  York  City 
the  price  of  gas  was  fixed  at  80  cents  per  thousand  feet ;  but 
the  application  of  this  rate  has  been  restrained,  pending  pro- 
ceedings in  the  courts.  In  Boston  and  surrounding  cities 
and  towns  a  sliding  scale  has  been  established,  similar  to 
that  in  force  in  London  for  many  years.    At  the  standard 


162  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

price  of  90  cents  per  thousand  feet,  dividends  are  limited  to 
7  per  cent  on  the  capital  stock,  —  the  amount  of  which  has 
also  been  controlled  by  previous  legislation.  For  each  one 
cent  reduction  in  the  price  of  gas,  dividends  may  be  increased 
one  fifth  of  one  per  cent.  If  the  price  is  maintained  so  high 
that  large  profits  accumulate,  these  are  to  be  distributed  to 
the  local  treasuries.  After  ten  years  the  standard  price  may 
be  altered  by  the  state  gas  and  electric  commission. 

Local  authorities  have  also  been  given  larger  powers  of 
control,  especially  in  some  of  the  southwestern  states.  Thus 
in  Arkansas,  by  act  of  1903,  city  councils  have  been  given 
power  to  fix  reasonable  rates  for  water,  gas,  and  electricity, 
on  complaint  and  after  examination.  A  Missouri  act  of  the 
same  year  gave  to  cities  under  30,000  population  the  same 
authority,  with  the  addition  of  telephones.  A  Mississippi  act 
of  1904  authorized  municipal  control  of  water  and  lighting 
rates.  And  two  Texas  acts  of  1905  require  all  street  railway, 
lighting,  water,  and  sewer  companies  to  make  annual  reports 
to  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  provide  for  the  regulation  of 
rates  charged  by  such  public  utility  corporations  on  com- 
plaint of  city  councils  before  the  district  courts. 

In  the  agreement  concluded  lately  between  the  city  of 
Chicago  and  the  street  railway  companies  there  are  unusual 
powers  of  control  reserved  by  the  municipal  authorities,  — 
so  that  the  agreement  may  be  said  to  establish  a  joint  part- 
nership between  the  city  and  the  companies.  Definite 
arrangements  are  made  for  the  purchase  of  the  plant  by  the 
city,  or  its  transfer  to  other  companies  at  a  fixed  price  for 
the  existing  property  and  the  actual  cost  of  improvements. 
New  construction  is  to  be  performed  under  the  direct  super- 
vision of  a  board  of  engineers  representing  both  the  city  and 
the  companies.  Elaborate  provisions  are  made  in  regard 
to  the  service,  providing  for  new  routes,  transfers,  and  exten- 
sions. And  the  profits,  after  paying  five  per  cent  on  the 
value  of  the  property,  are  to  be  divided  between  the  city  and 
the   companies  in  the  ratio  of  55  to  45.     Under  the  new 


RECENT   LEGISLATION  ON  MUNICIPAL  FUNCTIONS         163 

Oklahoma  constitution,  no  exclusive  franchises  are  allowed; 
and  aU  franchises  must  be  limited  to  twenty-five  years,  must 
be  approved  by  popular  vote,  and  are  subject  to  the  control 
and  regulation  of  the  state  and  its  subordinate  subdivisions. 

With  such  restrictions  in  franchises  and  public  regulation, 
it  is  clear  that,  even  if  municipal  operation  of  such  services 
does  not  become  common,  a  larger  degree  of  public  control 
over  the  private  companies  is  at  least  being  established. 
There  is  perhaps  some  need  for  distinguishing  between  the 
relative  importance  of  different  conditions.  Those  requiring 
previous  public  notice  and  local  consent  are  clearly  to  be 
commended  at  all  times.  The  Hmitation  of  franchise  terms 
to  between  twenty  or  thirty  years  is  an  essential  condition 
if  other  means  of  control  are  lacking.  But  if  a  city  reserves 
the  right  to  revise  the  payments  to  the  city  at  short  intervals, 
to  regulate  rates  and  conditions  of  service,  and  to  purchase 
the  plant  for  the  value  of  the  tangible  property,  there  is  less 
need  for  limiting  closely  the  duration  of  the  franchise;  and 
for  certain  works  involving  vast  amounts  of  fixed  capital  a 
longer  period  than  thirty  years  may  be  necessary. 


IX 

PUBLIC  WORKS   ADMINISTRATION   IN  AMERICAN 

CITIES ' 

Public  works  administration  in  the  cities  of  the  United 
States  presents  the  most  confusing  variety  of  methods.  For 
particular  branches  of  work  there  are  boards  and  single  com- 
missioners, often  both  systems  existing  in  the  same  city. 
These  officers  are  most  frequently  appointed  by  the  mayor 
with  the  consent  of  the  city  council;  but  there  are  many 
exceptional  cases  where  appointments  are  made  sometimes 
by  the  mayor  alone,  sometimes  by  the  governor  of  the  state, 
occasionally  by  judges,  and  in  some  cities  some  officials  are 
chosen  directly  by  popular  vote.  In  many  cities  there  is 
some  attempt  made  to  coordinate  and  organize  the  work  of 
several  of  the  most  closely  related  branches  of  public  improve- 
ments, but  it  is  seldom  that  this  organization  is  complete, 
and  in  many  cases  each  branch  of  work  is  conducted  indepen- 
dently of  all  the  others. 

It  may  be  of  service  to  note  the  leading  features  of  public 
works  administration  in  some  of  the  leading  cities.  This 
showing  will  at  least  emphasize  the  existing  confusion.  It 
should  demonstrate  the  need  for  a  more  systematic  manage- 
ment. And  it  may  suggest  some  definite  scheme  of  organi- 
zation. 

Under  the  New  York  charter  of  1897  there  was  provided 
a  board  of  public  improvements  consisting  of  a  president, 
six  commissioners  for  various  pubfic  works'  departments, 
and,  as  ex  officio  members,  the  mayor,  corporation  counsel, 
the  comptroller,  and  the  presidents  of  the  five  boroughs. 
The  president  of  the  board  and  the  six  department  commis- 

»  Revised  from  Municipal  Engineering,  XXII,  212  (April,  1902). 

164 


PUBLIC  WORKS  ADMINISTRATION  165 

sioners  were  each  appointed  by  the  mayor,  as  was  also  the 
corporation  counsel;  while  the  mayor,  comptroller,  and 
borough  presidents  were  chosen  by  popular  vote.  The  board 
controlled  the  general  plan  for  public  works,  while  the  execu- 
tion of  these  plans  and  the  maintenance  of  existing  work 
was  under  the  management  of  the  different  commissioners 
for  water  supply,  for  highways,  for  street  cleaning,  for  sewers, 
for  bridges,  and  for  public  buildings,  lighting,  and  supplies. 
Entirely  independent  of  these  departments  and  the  board 
of  public  improvements  were  a  number  of  other  departments 
engaged  in  municipal  works.  The  parks  were  placed  under 
the  control  of  three  commissioners,  each  having  jurisdiction 
of  the  parks  in  one  section  of  the  city ;  the  docks  and  ferries 
were  placed  under  a  board  of  three  members ;  and  the  con- 
struction of  the  new  East  River  bridge  was  placed  in  charge 
of  a  special  board  —  all  of  these  officials  being  appointed  by 
the  mayor.  In  addition,  the  construction  of  new  water- 
supply  works  and  the  rapid  transit  subway  were  under  per- 
manent boards  appointed  by  state  authority. 

The  amended  charter  which  went  into  effect  in  1902  made 
some  important  changes  in  this  system.  The  board  of  public 
improvements  has  been  abolished,  and  its  powers  assigned 
partly  to  the  board  of  estimate  and  apportionment,  partly 
to  the  various  officers  charged  with  special  departments.  The 
five  elected  borough  presidents  are  given  control  over  the 
highways,  sewers,  and  public  buildings  in  their  respective 
boroughs,  and  they  have  established  and  appointed  in  each 
borough  a  commissioner  of  public  works,  subordinate  to 
whom  are  a  superintendent  of  highways,  a  superintendent 
of  sewers,  a  superintendent  of  public  buildings,  and  a  super- 
intendent of  incumbrances,  while  in  the  borough  of  Man- 
hattan there  will  also  be  a  superintendent  of  baths.  The 
commissioners  of  street  cleaning  and  bridges  remain  as  before, 
with  jurisdiction  over  the  entire  city,  the  latter  absorbing 
the  powers  of  the  new  East  River  bridge  commission;  and 
the  commissioner  of  water-supply  has  added  to  his  depart- 


166  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

ment  the  supervision  of  gas  and  electric  companies.  The 
three  park  commissioners  have  been  formed  into  a  board 
with  powers  of  general  regulation,  but  each  commissioner 
is  still  assigned  to  a  definite  section  of  the  city  for  his  special 
control.  A  single  dock  commissioner  has  been  substituted 
for  the  dock  and  ferry  board.  All  of  these  officials,  except 
those  subordinate  to  the  borough  presidents,  are  appointed 
by  the  mayor,  and  all  are  salaried  officers.  The  permanent 
state  aqueduct  and  rapid  transit  boards  continue  in  existence. 

Chicago  has  had  since  1861  an  organization  of  the  coordi- 
nate services  of  water-supply,  sewers,  parks,  streets,  river 
and  harbor  and  public  buildings,  at  first  under  an  elected 
board,  changed  in  1867  to  an  appointive  board,  and  in  1876 
changed  again  to  a  single  commissioner  of  public  works  ap- 
pointed by  the  mayor.  As  now  organized,  there  are  six 
bureaus  in  the  department,  the  heads  of  which  are  appointed 
by  the  commissioner  of  public  works.  The  city  engineer 
has  charge  of  bridges  and  viaducts,  the  harbor  improve- 
ments, and  the  waterworks;  the  superintendent  of  streets 
attends  to  paving  and  scavenging;  the  water  bureau  to  the 
collection  of  revenue  for  the  use  of  water;  and  the  remaining 
bureaus  to  the  sewerage  system,  special  assessments,  maps 
and  plats,  and  track  elevation.  But  independent  of  the 
department  of  public  works,  and  indeed  independent  of  the 
city  corporation,  are  the  board  of  trustees  for  the  sanitary 
district,  elected  by  popular  vote,  and  the  three  park  boards, 
two  appointed  by  the  governor  of  the  state,  and  one  by  the 
judges  of  the  circuit  court. 

Philadelphia  has  organized  most  of  the  municipal  public 
works  into  a  single  department.  At  the  head  of  this  depart- 
ment is  the  director  of  public  works,  appointed  by  the  mayor 
subject  to  confirmation  by  the  select  council,  who  receives 
a  salary  of  $10,000  a  year,  and  holds  office  for  four  years,  or 
until  his  successor  is  appointed,  unless  removed  for  cause. 
Within  this  department  there  are  seven  bureaus:  highways, 
lighting,  street  cleaning,  surveys,   water,  gas  and  city  ice 


PUBLIC  WORKS  ADMINISTRATION  167 

boats.  The  chiefs  of  these  bureaus,  with  one  exception, 
are  appointed  by  the  director  of  public  works,  subject  to  con- 
firmation by  the  select  council.  The  chief  inspector  of  gas 
meters,  however,  is  appointed  by  the  mayor.  The  salaries 
of  these  bureau  chiefs  vary  widely.  The  highest  is  the  chief 
engineer  of  surveys,  who  receives  $8000  a  year;  the  chief 
of  the  water  bureau,  $6000 ;  the  chief  inspector  of  gas  meters 
has  $5000;  the  chief  of  the  highways  bureau,  $4000;  the 
chief  of  the  street-cleaning  bureau,  $2500;  the  chief  of  the 
bureau  of  hghting,  $2000,  and  the  superintendent  of  the 
city  ice  boats,  $1650.  Each  bureau  is  managed  directly  by 
its  own  chief,  under  the  supervision  of  the  director  of  public 
works.  But  there  is  provided  a  board  of  highway  super- 
visors, composed  of  the  bureau  chiefs  concerned  in  works 
which  cause  breaks  in  the  street  surface,  to  systematize  that 
work  so  as  to  prevent  unnecessary  openings  and  reduce 
expenses. 

There  are,  however,  two  other  administrative  bureaus 
engaged  in  public  works  which  are  very  largely  independent 
of  the  department  and  officials  just  mentioned.  One  of  these 
is  the  park  board,  composed  of  ten  unpaid  members  appointed 
by  the  judges  of  the  court  of  common  pleas,  and  six  ex-officio 
members,  as  follows:  the  mayor,  the  presidents  of  the  select 
and  common  councils,  and  the  chiefs  of  the  water  bureau, 
the  survey  bureau,  and  the  bureau  of  city  property.  The 
other  is  the  harbor  board,  composed  of  the  chief  of  the  bureau 
of  surveys  and  six  members  appointed  by  the  presidents  of 
the  select  and  common  councils. 

In  Boston  the  public  works  of  the  city  are,  to  a  large  extent, 
organized  under  a  single  department;  but  there  are  some 
independent  bureaus,  while  the  various  boards  for  the  works 
of  interest  to  the  larger  metropolitan  community  increase 
the  element  of  disorganization.  The  city  superintendent 
of  streets  has  control  over  paving,  bridges,  ferries,  street 
cleaning,  and  sewers,  with  subordinate  bureaus  for  each  class 
of  work.    But  the  water  commissioner  is  an  independent 


168  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

official,  as  are  also  the  board  of  street  openings,  the  park 
board,  and  the  rapid  transit  board,  which  has  charge  of  the 
construction  of  subways  and  tunnels.  The  last-named  board 
is,  moreover,  appointed  by  the  state  governor.  For  the 
more  extensive  metropolitan  works,  there  have  been  three 
boards,  each  appointed  by  the  governor;  in  1901  the  water 
and  sewerage  boards  were  consolidated,  but  the  metropolitan 
park  board  is  still  an  entirely  separate  authority. 

Baltimore  has  a  board  of  public  improvements,  with  general 
control  over  all  public  works  except  the  parks,  which  are 
under  the  control  of  a  board  of  five  unsalaried  members. 
The  board  of  public  improvements  is  composed  of  the  city 
engineer,  the  inspector  of  buildings,  and  the  presidents  of 
the  water  and  harbor  boards,  who  are  all  salaried  officials. 
In  addition  to  their  salaried  presidents  the  water  and  harbor 
boards  have  each  four  unpaid  members. 

All  of  the  branches  of  municipal  public  works  in  St.  Louis 
have  been  organized  into  a  definite  system,  although  on  some- 
what different  lines  from  the  partial  organization  in  Phila- 
delphia. There  is  here  a  board  of  public  improvements, 
consisting  of  a  president  elected  by  popular  vote,  and  five 
commissioners  appointed  by  the  mayor,  each  of  whom  is 
assigned  to  a  special  division  corresponding  to  the  bureaus 
in  the  Philadelphia  organization.  Thus  there  is  a  street 
commissioner,  controlling  the  construction,  repair,  and  clean- 
ing of  streets,  a  sewer  commissioner,  a  water  commissioner, 
a  harbor  and  wharf  commissioner,  and  a  park  commissioner. 
Provision  is  also  made  for  a  gas  commissioner,  if  the  city 
should  at  any  time  own  and  operate  municipal  gas  works. 
The  board  prepares  plans  for  construction  works  for  sub- 
mission to  the  municipal  assembly,  and  enters  into  contracts 
for  the  works  to  be  undertaken.  The  president  presides  at 
the  meetings  of  the  board,  and  has  supervision  over  the  vari- 
ous commissioners.  He  receives  a  salary  of  $5000  a  year. 
The  salaries  of  the  commissioners  range  from  $4500  to 
$3000  each. 


PUBLIC  WORKS  ADMINISTRATION  169 

The  administrative  arrangements  in  Cincinnati  also  bring 
under  one  general  control  all  the  public  works,  except  the 
construction  of  a  new  system  of  waterworks.  This  authority 
is  the  board  of  public  service,  composed  of  five  elected 
members,  none  of  whom,  however,  have  charge  of  any  par- 
ticular services,  as  do  the  members  of  the  St.  Louis  board. 
Under  this  board  are  the  chief  engineer  (with  divisions  in 
this  department  for  highways,  bridges,  sewers,  sidewalks, 
and  street  repairs),  the  waterworks  engineer,  the  superin- 
tendent of  parks,  and  the  city  electrician,  and  also  two  depart- 
ments not  often  combined  with  public  works,  the  health 
department  and  the  city  hospital.  The  construction  of  the 
new  system  of  waterworks  is  under  the  management  of  an 
independent  board  of  five  trustees.  In  other  Ohio  cities  there 
are  similar  elective  boards  of  public  service. 

We  may  now  turn  to  a  considerable  group  of  cities  where 
there  is  a  complete  organization  on  a  distinctly  similar  plan. 
This  group  consists  of  the  cities  of  the  second  class  in  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania:  Pittsburg,  Allegheny,  Rochester, 
Syracuse,  Albany,  Troy,  and  Scranton.  In  each  of  these 
cities  there  is  at  the  head  of  the  whole  field  of  municipal 
public  works  a  single  official,  known  in  the  New  York  cities 
as  the  commissioner  of  public  works,  and  in  the  other  cities 
as  the  director  of  public  works.  In  each  case,  too,  this  official 
is  appointed  by  the  mayor  of  the  city.  The  jurisdiction 
of  this  officer  extends  in  all  of  these  cities  over  the  streets, 
sewers,  bridges,  wharves,  parks,  waterworks,  and  public 
buildings  of  the  city.  The  subordinate  bureaus  in  this  general 
department  of  public  works  naturally  show  variations  of 
detail  in  the  different  cities,  but  all  are  characterized  by  the 
system  of  single  officials  at  the  head  of  each  bureau.  In  the 
four  New  York  cities  there  is  a  city  engineer  appointed  by 
the  mayor,  and  a  superintendent  of  waterworks  and  a  super- 
intendent of  parks,  appointed  by  the  commissioner  of  public 
works.  In  Pittsburg  there  are  eight  bureaus;  engineering 
and  construction,  surveys,  highways,  and  sewers,  city  prop- 


170  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

erty,  water-supply,  water  rents,  public  lighting,  and  parks. 
Similar  concentrated  departments  of  public  works  imder  a 
single  salaried  director  existed  for  a  number  of  years  in 
Cleveland  and  Columbus ;  but  these  were  replaced  by  boards 
of  public  service  under  the  Ohio  municipal  code  of  1902. 

Buffalo  and  Milwaukee  are  typical  cities  representing 
another  system  of  administration.  In  each  of  these  cities 
there  is  a  salaried  board  of  public  works  and  a  park  board 
of  unsalaried  members.  In  Buffalo  the  board  of  public 
works  consists  of  one  elected  and  two  appointed  members, 
each  receiving  a  salary  of  $5000,  under  which  are  bureaus  of 
engineering,  waterworks,  streets,  and  building.  In  this  case 
the  members  of  the  board  act  only  collectively,  and  the  chiefs 
of  the  subordinate  bureaus  are  selected  by  the  board.  The 
harbor  master  is  independent  of  the  board  of  public  works, 
and  the  park  board  consists  of  the  mayor  and  fifteen  unpaid 
members.  The  Milwaukee  board  of  public  works  consists 
of  three  members,  each  of  whom  has  a  salary  of  $4000,  one 
of  whom  is  the  city  engineer.  Subordinate  to  this  board 
are  the  superintendent  of  bridges,  the  superintendent  of 
sewers,  the  waterworks,  and  the  harbor  master.  The  park 
board  has  five  unpaid  members  appointed  by  the  mayor. 

Newark  and  Providence  have  each  a  board  of  public  works 
with  powers  similar  to  those  in  Buffalo,  while  the  Providence 
park  board  and  Essex  County  park  commission  control  the 
parks  of  these  cities. 

San  Francisco  and  Indianapolis  have  each  similar  sets  of 
officials  —  a  board  of  public  works  and  a  park  board.  But 
as  the  waterworks  in  these  cities  are  owned  by  private  com- 
panies, the  functions  of  the  board  of  public  works  do  not  in- 
clude that  service.  St.  Paul  has  a  salaried  board  of  public 
works  and  an  unpaid  park  board  with  functions  similar  to 
those  authorities  in  San  Francisco;  and  in  addition  there  is 
a  board  of  five  water  commissioners,  the  president  of  which 
receives  a  salary  of  $1000  a  year,  and  the  other  members 
$100  each. 


PUBLIC  WORKS  ADMINISTRATION  171 

Until  the  spring  of  1901  the  Detroit  system  resembled  that 
of  St.  Paul,  with  the  addition  of  another  board  for  the  munici- 
pal electric  light  plant.  But  in  May  of  that  year  single  com- 
missioners were  provided  in  place  of  two  of  the  boards.  The 
commissioner  of  public  works  has  control  over  the  streets, 
sewers,  wharves,  bridges,  and  public  buildings.  The  parks 
are  also  under  a  single  salaried  commissioner.  There  is  also  a 
water  board  and  a  lighting  commission  with  five  and  six  mem- 
bers, none  of  whom  receive  salaries.  These  four  authorities 
remain  entirely  independent,  with  no  organization  for  official 
cooperation. 

Other  cities  can  generally  be  classed  with  some  of  the  sys- 
tems already  described,  and  as  it  would  serve  little  purpose 
to  take  them  up  in  detail,  a  few  examples  will  indicate  the 
methods  in  less  important  cities.  Seattle  resembles  St. 
Louis,  with  a  board  of  public  works  composed  of  three  bureau 
chiefs,  covering  all  branches.  Grand  Rapids  has  a  board 
of  public  works  with  similar  functions  to  those  in  Buffalo 
and  Milwaukee.  Reading,  like  St.  Paul,  has  three  boards 
for  public  works,  water-supply,  and  parks.  Worcester  and 
Cambridge  have  water  and  park  boards,  with  single  com- 
missioners for  other  departments  of  public  works. 

Amid  all  this  variety  and  confusion,  it  may  yet  be  noticed 
that  the  tendency  toward  system  and  order  is  strongly  in 
one  direction.  The  only  considerable  group  of  important 
cities  with  substantially  similar  methods  includes  most  of 
those  cities  which  have  accomplished  a  complete  organiza- 
tion of  the  different  branches  of  public  works  into  a  harmo- 
nious system.  This  is  the  group  of  New  York  and  Pennsyl- 
vania cities,  with  a  system  of  single-headed  bureaus  under 
the  general  control  of  a  single  director  of  public  works  ap- 
pointed by  the  mayor  of  the  city.  The  other  complete  sys- 
tems of  organization  are  those  of  St.  Louis  and  Ohio  cities, 
the  one  grouping  the  bureau  chiefs  into  a  general  board  of 
public  improvements,  the  other  establishing  a  board  outside 
of  the  bureau  chiefs,  which  takes  the  place  of  the  single  direc- 


172  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

tor.  But  these  board  systems  diffuse  responsibility  and 
impose  hindrances  to  prompt  action,  while  the  advantages 
of  cooperative  action  between  various  bureaus  can  be  at 
least  as  well  secured  through  reports  and  recommendations 
to  a  common  superior  as  through  the  consultations  of  bureau 
chiefs.  It  is  indeed  difficult  to  see  wherein  the  arguments 
for  a  single  head  are  any  less  strong  in  considering  the  central 
management  of  public  works  than  they  are  in  reference  to 
the  subordinate  bureaus  or  to  the  mayor  as  the  head  of  the 
entire  municipal  administration. 

As  to  the  control  over  the  particular  branches  of  public 
work,  the  strongest  objection  to  the  universal  application 
of  the  single-commissioner  system  will  come  from  those  who 
believe  in  the  unpaid  boards,  especially  those  which  control 
the  public  parks.  The  reply  must  be  that  the  management 
of  public  parks,  like  that  of  street  paving  or  sewer  construc- 
tion, is  essentially  a  technical  service,  that  those  who  accept 
gratuitous  positions  cannot  have  any  adequate  special  train- 
ing; that  they  are  never  expected  to  devote  their  whole 
time,  even  while  in  office,  to  their  official  duties;  and  that 
they  cannot  be  held  to  strict  account  for  their  performance. 
The  execution  of  details  must  be  left  to  subordinates,  and 
the  supervision  of  these  details  can  be  better  secured  by  the 
constant  attention  of  a  single  official  than  by  the  occasional 
meetings  of  men  engaged  in  other  occupations.  Where 
non-technical  advice  given  from  purely  philanthropic  motives 
can  be  of  service,  it  can  be  better  secured  by  means  of  an 
advisory  board  not  burdened  with  any  details  of  manage- 
ment. 

The  system  of  bi-partisan  boards  adopted  sometimes  as 
a  method  of  securing  non-partisan  administration,  shows  a 
curious  confusion  of  two  fundamentally  different  ideas; 
and  the  inevitable  result  of  «uch  a  system  is  to  make  it  impos- 
sible to  locate  responsibility  for  the  administration. 


X 

REVENUE  SYSTEMS  OF  AMERICAN  AND  FOREIGN 

CITIES ' 

The  purpose  of  this  report  is  to  give  a  bird's-eye  view  of 
the  local  finances  of  the  leading  cities  of  America  and  Europe. 
To  this  end,  five  European  cities  —  namely,  London,  Paris, 
Berlin,  Vienna,  and  Glasgow  —  have  been  selected;  also 
the  five  largest  cities  of  the  United  States — New  York, 
Chicago,  Philadelphia,  St.  Louis,  and  Boston;  and  also 
the  Canadian  type  represented  in  Toronto.  A  series  of  tables 
has  been  prepared  to  show,  in  a  comparative  way,  the  receipts, 
expenditures,  and  debt  of  all  these  cities.  A  number  of 
comparisons  have  been  made  with  a  view  of  bringing  out 
more  distinctly  the  salient  features  of  the  local  systems  of 
finance.  There  follows  a  description  of  the  revenue  systems 
of  these  municipalities,  designed  to  make  more  clear  the 
different  local  plans. 

As  a  basis  for  comparison,  there  is  first  presented  a  series  of 
tables  on  revenue,  expenditure,  and  debt.  Table  I  gives  the 
ordinary  revenue  of  New  York,  Philadelphia,  St.  Louis,  and 
Boston  for  the  year  1903,  and  of  Chicago  for  1904.  Revenues 
are  classified,  following  the  census  scheme,  as  "general," 
under  which  head  is  included  taxes,  licenses,  and  state  grants ; 
and  "commercial,"  under  which  is  included  revenue  from 
municipal  industries,  public-service  privileges,  departmental 
receipts,  and  special  assessments.  Table  II  gives  similar 
figures  for  London,  Paris,  Berlin,  Vienna,  and  Glasgow. 
Table  III  gives  the  "ordinary"  expenses  (for  maintenance 

*  By  Chas.  E.  Merriam  and  John  A.  Fairlie.  Reprinted  from  Report 
on  the  Municipal  Revenues  of  Chicago,  to  the  City  Club  of  Chicago,  1906. 

173 


174 


ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 


and  operation)  of  the  five  leading  American  cities.  These 
expenditures  are  classified  under  ten  main  heads:  "General 
Administration,"  "Pubhc  Health  and  Safety,"  "Charities 
and  Corrections,"  "Streets,"  "Education,"  "Recreation," 
"Miscellaneous  General,"  "Interest,"  "Loans  Repaid,"  and 
"Municipal  Industries."  Under  several  of  these  main  head- 
ings subdivisions  have  been  made.  Table  IV  gives  the 
"extraordinary"  expenses  of  the  five  largest  cities  of  the 
United  States.  These  expenditures  correspond  roughly  to 
capital  outlay  by  a  private  corporation.  Tables  V  and  VI 
give  similar  figures  regarding  ordinary  and  extraordinary 
expenditures  for  the  European  cities.  Table  VII  presents 
a  comparison  between  the  debts  and  assets  of  the  five  Ameri- 
can cities  discussed.  Table  VIII  gives  the  debt  of  foreign 
cities.  Table  IX  gives  the  total  tax  rate,  tax  rate  for  local 
purposes,  local  tax  per  capita,  revenue  per  capita,  debt  per 
capita,  valuation  per  capita,  area,  street  mileage,  and  popu- 
lation of  the  five  largest  American  cities. 

It  should  be  noted  that  under  "Chicago"  are  included  the 
revenues  and  expenditures  of  all  the  taxing  bodies  lying 
wholly  within  the  limits  of  the  city,  and  a  proportionate 
share  of  the  county  and  sanitary  district.  As  95  per  cent 
of  the  valuation  of  the  sanitary  district  lies  within  the  city, 
95  per  cent  of  its  expenses  and  revenues  are  included  under 
"Chicago,"  and  on  the  same  basis  92  per  cent  of  the  expenses 
and  revenues  of  Cook  County  are  included. 

TABLE   I 
Ordinary  Revenues  of  American  Cities  • 


New  York 

Chicaqo 

Philadel- 
phia 

St.  Louis 

Boston 

Taxes     .     .     . 

Licenses,  forfei- 
tures, fines 
State  grants  . 
Miscellaneous 

$76,296,721 

7,469,152 

1,306,225 

275,722 

$21,469,607 

4,513,915 
306,840 
231,098 

$18,415,082 

2,103,234 
910,987 
155,551 

$9,456,773 

1,669,949 

202,251 

59,901 

$18,439,775 

1,229,351 

12,100 

179,520 

General  .     . 

$  85,347,820 

$26,521,460 

$21,584,854 

$11,388,871 

$19,860,746 

■  This  does  not  include  in  any  case  receipts  from  loans  or  other  extraordinary 
revenues. 


REVENUE   SYSTEMS 


176 


TABLE  I.  —  Continued 
Ordinary  Revenues  of  American  Cities 


New  York 

Chicaqo 

Philadel- 
phia 

St.  Louis 

Boston 

Municipal  indus- 
tries    . 

Public   -   service 
privileges 

Departmental  re- 
ceipts .     . 

Special       assess- 
ments 

$13,036,497 

712,410 

1,110,684 

6,935,531 

$5,072,666 

513,763 

2,015,401 

4,298,684 

$6,073,029 

113,574 

1,127,123 

710,077 

$2,173,037 

266,439 

518,622 

3,261,143 

$3,121,486 

83,466 

586,655 

413,740 

Commercial 

Total       .     . 

Per  capita  — 
General  . 
Commercial 

$21,785,122 
$107,132,942 

$22.97 
5.86 

$11,900,514 
$38,421,974 

$13.73 
6.15 

$8,023,803 
$29,618,657 

$15.78 
5.87 

$6,219,241 
$17,608,112 

$18.60 
10.16 

$4,205,346 
$24,066,092 

$33.40 
7.07 

Total       .     . 

$28.83 

$19.88 

$21.65 

$28.76 

$40.47 

TABLE    II 
Ordinary  Revenues  of  European  Cities 


London, 
1902-3 

Paris, 
1902 

Berlin, 
1901-2 

Vienna, 
1902 

Glasgow, 
1901-2 

Direct  taxes    . 

Indirect     taxes, 
licenses, 
fines   .     . 

State  grants  . 

Miscellaneous 

$69,175,000 

1,025,000 

11,781,000 

2,206,000 

$20,592,000 

21,901,000 

4,374,000 

520,000 

$15,190,000' 

757,000 

6,477,000 

54,000 

$11,874,000 

2,960,000 

4,560,000 

180,000 

$7,064,000 

176,000 
1,960,000 

General  .    . 

Municipal     in- 
dustries . 

Public-service 
privileges 

Departmental 
receipts  . 

Special      assess- 
ments    . 

$84,187,000 

$8,503,000 

398,000 

2,597,000 

1,947,000 

$47,387,000 

$9,363,000 
6,713,000 
4,820,000 

$22,478,000 

$11,782,000 
1,160,000 
4,760,000 

1,758,000 

$19,574,000 

$10,089,000 
231,000 

3,216,000 

$9,200,000 
$9,830,000 

885,000 
90,000 

Commercial 

Total      .     . 

Population     . 
Per  capita  — 

General 

Commercial 

$13,445,000 

$97,632,000 

4,560,000 

$18.44 
2.97 

$20,896,000 

$68,283,000 

2,659,000 

$17.82 
7.86 

$19,460,000 

$41,938,000 

1,888,326 

$11.90 
10.30 

$13,536,000 

$33,110,000 

1,674,957 

$11.65 
8.75 

$10,805,000 

$20,005,000 

912,000 

$10.90 
11.85 

Total      .     . 

$21.41 

$25.68 

$22.20 

$20.40 

$22.75 

Sec.  Ill,  p.  206. 


176 


ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 


TABLE   III 
Ordinary  Expenditures  of  American  Cities 


New  York 

Chicago 

Phil.\- 

DELPHIA 

St.  Louis 

Boston 

General  adminis- 
tration    . 

Courts    . 
Police     .     .     . 
Fire.       .     .     . 
Health   .     .     . 
Public  health 
and  safety 

Charities  and 
corrections 

Street-cleaning 
and  refuse- 
disposal    . 

Street-lighting 

Sewers   . 

Miscellaneous 
streets 

$6,840,552 

$3,434,213 

12,581,332 

5,850,807 

1,271,652 

$2,353,933 

$860,352 

4,014,713 

1,920,244 

191,220 

$2,101,161 

$564,566 

3,208,910 

1,225,807 

346,215 

$780,282 

$407,689 

1,614,091 

862,429 

146,270 

$1,320,522 

$717,137 

1,849,213 

1,314,509 

188,183 

$25,524,584 
$6,277,065 

$6,148,087 

1,644,417 

778,391 

2,976,440 

$7,162,282 
$1,600,574 

$1,205,197 
349,237 
412,142 

405,432 

$5,918,828 
$1,300,051 

$1,207,338 

1,357,327 

120,492 

1,126,468 

$3,187,812 
$661,079 

$814,564 
504,238 
139,610 

746,723 

$4,409,590 
$1,844,670 

$1,047,094 
776,562 
334,156 

1,179,402 

Streets   and 
sewers .     . 

Schools  .    .     . 
Libraries    . 

$11,493,216 

$21,804,610 
1,118,705 

$2,785,002 

$8,419,127 
178,666 

$3,811,629 

$4,242,710 
279,344 

$2,205,135 

$2,015,299 
67,755 

$3,255,505 

$3,588,212 
280,166 

Education   . 

$22,923,375 

$8,597,793 

$4,522,054 

$2,083,054 

$3,868,378 

Recreation 

Miscellaneous 
general     . 

$1,514,644 
$51,520 

$665,403 
$91,128 

$561,308 
$43,250 

$160,280 
$15,903 

$645,009 
$741,672 

Total  general 

Interest       .     . 
Loans  repaid 
Municipal  indus- 
tries    . 

$74,624,956 

$12,289,489 
12,511,634 

6,069,537 

$23,256,115 

$1,563,713 
3,314,810 

2,073,955 

$18,258,543 

$1,683,709 
3,071,300 

2,035,831 

$9,093,645 

$945,008 
191,090 

897,019 

$15,085,346 

$3,390,142 
5,219,574 

1,446,760 

Total  ordi- 
nary    .     . 

Extraordinarj' 

$105,505,616 
64,422,050 

$30,208,693 
12,075,545 

$25,049,383 
13,369,332 

$11,126,762 
5,364,123 

$25,141,812 

8,827,482 

Grand  total 

Per  capita  — 
General   . 
Total  ordinary 

$169,927,666 

$20.08 
28.39 

$42,284,238 

12.03 
.15.03 

$38,418,715 

13.35 

18.03 

.'S16,490,885 

14.52 
18.17 

$33,969,294 

25.37 

42.45 

REVENUE    SYSTEMS 


177 


TABLE    IV 
Extraordinary  Expenditures  (Outlays)  of  American  Cities 


New   York 

Chicago 

Phila- 
delphia 

St.  Louis 

Boston 

General  adminis- 
tration 

Public  safety 

Charities  and 
correction 

Streets    and 
sewers 

Education 

Recreation 

$1,212,787 
1,108,373 

670,270 

19,649,546 
7,432,903 
7,146,274 

$736,333 
27,991 

537,028 

4,898,948 
1,544,770 
3,015,936 

$8,158 
617,465 

181,511 

4,797,330 

1,044,486 

592,418 

$62,746 
158,767 

207,704 

3,577,433 

855,639 

7,354 

$66,746 
23,004 

559,808 

5,317,103 

1,476,415 

250,076 

General .     . 

Municipal  indus- 
tries    .     . 

$37,220,153 
27,201,897 

$10,776,727 
1,297,918 

$7,241,368 
6,127,964 

$4,869,643 
494,480 

$7,693,152 
1,158,043 

Total       .     . 

$64,422,050 

$12,075,545 

$13,369,332 

$5,364,123 

$8,827,482 

TABLE   V 
Ordinary  Expenditures  of  European  Cities 


London 
1902-3 

Paris 
1902 

Berlin 
1901-2 

Vienna 
1902 

Glasgow 
1901-2 

General  adminis- 
tration 

Courts    .      .     . 
Police     . 
Fire  department 
Health  dep't  . 
Public  health 
and  safety 

Charities     . 
Correction  .     . 
Charities  and 
correction 

Miscel.  streets 
Street  cleaning 
and  refuse- 
disposal    . 
Street  lighting 
Sewers  .     .     . 

$5,239,000 

$1,147,000 

8,764,000 

1,038,000 

760,000 

$771,000 

$620,000 

6,821,000 

706,000 

268,000 

$3,055,000 

$1,780,000 

5,397,000 

503,000 

135,000 

$2,992,000 

$1,300,000 

2,075,000 

263,000 

39,000 

$153,000 

$200,000 
765,000 
114,000 
294,000 

$11,709,000 

$20,862,000 
1,990,000 

$8,415,000 

$10,988,000 
442,000 

$7,815,000 

$4,955,000 
300,000 

$3,677,000 

$2,920,000 
300,000 

$1,373,000 

$1,578,000 
200,000 

$21,852,000 
$10,097,000 

1,775,000 
1,980,000 
2,156,000 

$11,430,000 
$4,145,000 

2,350,000 
1,785,000 
1,343,000 

$5,255,000 
$384,000 

999,000 

85,000 

1,288,000 

$3,220,000 
$1,738,000 

758,000 
122,000 
422,000 

$1,778,000 
$346,000 

692,000 
528,000 
136,000 

Streets  and 
sewers 

$16,008,000 

$9,623,000 

$2,756,000 

$3,040,000 

$1,702,000 

178 


ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 


TABLE   V  —  (Continued) 


London 
1902-3 

Paris 
1902 

Berlin 
1901-2 

Vienna 

1902 

Glasgow 
1901-2 

Schools   .     .    . 
Libraries,  etc. 

$13,713,000 
697,000 

$7,127,000 
633,000 

$7,078,000 
48,000 

$5,942,000 
41,000 

$1,960,000 
32,000 

Education  . 

Parks.     .     .    . 
Baths,  etc. .     . 

$14,410,000 

$1,266,000 
780,000 

$7,760,000 
$600,000 

$7,126,000 

$456,000 
94,000 

$5,983,000 

$504,000 
72,000 

$1,992,000 

$235,000 
91,000 

Recreation  . 
Miscel.  general 

$2,046,000 
$2,446,000 

$600,000 
$1,785,000 

$550,000 
$227,000 

$576,000 
$676,000 

$326,000 
$525,000 

Total  general 

Interest  .     .     . 
Loans  repaid  . 
Municipal  indus- 
tries    .     . 

$73,710,000 

$10,142,000 
6,821,000 

4,646,000 

$45,385,000 

$16,000,000 
6,475,000 

2,120,000 

$26,784,000 

$2,614,000 
1,710,000 

7,560,000 

$20,164,000 

$3,197,000 
1,400,000 

4,553,000 

$7,850,000 

$2,412,000 
1,571,000 

7,422,000 

Total  ordinary 
Extraordinary 

$95,319,000 
39,071,000 

$69,980,000 
10,630,000 

$38,668,000 
10,897,000 

$29,314,000 
28,912,000 

$19,255,000 
6,496,000 

Grand  total 

Per  capita  ■ — 
General    .     . 
Total  ordinary 

$134,390,000 

$16.17 
20.47 

$80,610,000 

$17.08 
26.31 

$49,565,000 

$14.24 
20.35 

$58,226,000 

$12.24 
17.24 

$25,751,000 

$8.61 
21.11 

Ordinary  Expenditures,   Municipal  Industries 


Real   estate  and 

buildings . 

$216,000 

$53,000 

$67,000 

$80,000 

$389,000 

Waterworks     . 

1,360,000 

688,000 

325,000 

314,000 

Gas-works  .     . 

5,526,000 

2,424,000 

3,492,000 

Electric  lighting 

704,000 

267,000 

312,000 

Markets          and 

abattoirs . 

623,000 

360,000 

1,204,000 

956,000 

148,000 

Cemeteries  .     . 

325,000 

347,000 

12,000 

157,000 

1.000 

Street  railways 

1,990,000 

Ins. 

2,713,000 
Tel. 

Docks   and   har- 

bors     .     . 

788,000 

63,000 

344,000 

53,000 

Municipal    prop- 

erty and  in- 

dustries   . 

$4,646,000 

$2,120,000 

$7,560,000 

$4,553,000 

$7,422,000 

REVENUE   SYSTEMS 


179 


TABLE   VI 

EXTRAOHDINART    EXPENDITURES    OF    EUROPEAN    ClTIES 


London 

Paris 

Berlin 

Vienna 

Glasgow 

General  adminis- 
tration 

Public  health  and 
safety  .     . 

Charities  and 
correction 

Streets  and 
sewers .     . 

Education  .     . 

Recreation  .     . 

Municipal  indus- 
tries     .     . 

Miscellaneous  . 

$294,000 

427,000 

6,690,000 

18,100,000 
3,454,000 
1,070,000 

8,600,000 
436,000 

$23,000 

323,000 

378,000 

1,929,000 
639,000 
150,000 

6,023,000 
1,165,000 

$1,597,000 

4,406,000 
1,280,000 

3,614,000 

$778,000 

43,000 

468,000 

1,491,000 
305,000 
108,000 

25,124,000 
595,000 

$281,000 

100,000 

457,000 

1,127,000 
411,700 
200,400 

3,701,000 
219,000 

Total  .    .     . 

$39,071,000 

$10,630,000 

$10,897,000 

$28,912,000 

$6,496,000 

TABLE   VII 
Debts  and  Assets  of  American  Cities 


New  York 

Chicago 

Philadel- 
phia 

St.  Louis 

Boston 

Total  Debt 
Total       less 
sinking- 
fund 
assets 

Per  capita 

Assets  .    . 

Salable   and 
produc- 
tive   . 

Salable   and 
unpro- 
ductive 

$532,977,235 

381,687,512 
$102.68 

$129,632,268 
394,456,470 

$51,204,532 

49,901,932 
$25.82 

$63,453,496 
163,789,120 

$58,383,532 

50,654,640 
$37.04 

$110,109,530 
88,345,156 

$24,077,474 

22,579,917 
$36.86 

$21,408,347 

20,764,580 
$42,172,927 

$120,152,106 

92,096,663 
$154.88 

$20,613,219 
91,176,775 

Total  . 

$524,088,738 

$227,242,616 

$198,554,686 

$111,789,994 

TABLE   VIII 
Debt  of  Foreign  Cities 


London 

Paris 

Berlin 

Vienna 

Glasgow 

Debt  .     . 
Per  capita 

$335,492,000 
$73.57 

$459,530,000 
$172.82 

$59,230,000 
$31.36 

$97,399,000 
$58.02 

$78,620,000 
$86.20 

180 


ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 


TABLE   IX 


Tax  Rate 

Tax  Rate 

Local  Tax 

Total  Local 

Debt 

FOR  ALL 

FOR  Local 

PER 

Revenue 

PER 

Purposes 

Fdrposes 

Capita 

per  Capita 

Capita 

Boston      .     .     . 

$7.40 
(        7.06 

$7.40 ' 
6.995    ) 

$30.78 

$40.47 

$154.88 

New  York      .     . 

to 
(        7.48 

to        } 
7.415 

20.53 

28.83 

102.68 

St.  Louis  .     .     . 

10.95 

10.10 

15.44 

28.76 

36.86 

Philadelphia 

7.50  2 
(        5.75 

7.50 
5.20      1 

13.46 

21.65 

37.04 

Chicago     .     .     . 

to 
(        6.59 

to 
6.04      ) 

11.11 

19.88 

25.82 

Valuation 
PER  Capita 


Area, 
Acres 


Streets, 
Miles 


Population 


Boston 
New  York. 
St.  Louis    . 
Philadelphia 
Chicago 


$2,054.68 

1,461.84 

724.92 

978.17 

1,097.80 


27,532 

209,218 

39,276 

81,833 

114,932 


500 
2,589 
1,004 
1,661 
4,235 


594,618 
3,716,139 

612,279 
1,367,716 
1,932,315 


»  A  payment  of  $900,000  for  state  taxes  is  made  from  this. 

'  7.50  on  real  estate;  2.20  on  personalty-extensive  corporation  taxes.  Down  to  1904 
the  rate  was  9.25.  All  tax-rates  are  estimated  on  the  basis  of  a  one-fifth  valuation,  as 
in  Chicago. 


Section  I.    General  Comparisons 

Comparing  the  revenues  of  American  cities,  it  appears  that 
the  per  capita  income  of  Chicago  is  smaller  than  that  of  any 
other  great  city,  American  or  European.  On  the  Philadelphia 
basis  its  revenue  would  be  about  $3,000,000  greater  than  at 
present;  on  the  New  York  or  St.  Louis  basis,  about  $18,000,000 
larger;  on  the  Boston  basis,  about  double  the  amount  now 
received.  In  "commercial  revenue"  Chicago  compares 
favorably  with  the  other  great  cities,  but  in  "general 
revenue"  the  deficiency  is  most  clearly  evident.  Chicago's 
$13.73  per  capita  of  general  revenue  is  far  behind  the  $33.40 
of  Boston,  the  $22.97  of  New  York,  the  $18.60  of  St.  Louis, 
and  is  considerably  below  the  $15.78  of  Philadelphia.  A 
closer  analysis  of  the  situation  shows  that  Chicago's  greatest 
weakness  lies  in  the  tax  revenue  per  capita.     In  licenses, 


REVENUE   SYSTEMS  181 

fines,  and  forfeitures,  Chicago,  with  a  per  capita  income  of 
$2.24,  stands  second  to  St.  Louis,  with  $2.55;  while  Boston 
obtains  $1.93,  New  York  $1.73,  and  Philadelphia  $1.56, 
respectively.  In  this  respect,  then,  the  revenue  of  Chicago 
compares  favorably  with  that  of  other  American  cities.  In 
revenue  from  taxes,  however,  Chicago  lags  far  behind  the 
others  of  its  group.  Boston  raises  $30.78  per  capita  by  taxes ; 
New  York,  $20.53;  St.  Louis,  $15.44;  Philadelphia,  $13.46; 
while  Chicago  contributes  only  $11.11.  On  the  Philadelphia 
basis,  Chicago's  revenue  from  taxes  for  local  purposes  would 
be  $4,000,000  greater  than  at  present;  estimated  on  the  St. 
Louis  basis,  its  revenue  would  be  about  $8,000,000  larger; 
on  the  New  York  basis,  its  revenue  would  be  increased 
about  $18,000,000;  and,  finally,  on  the  Boston  basis  the 
local  revenue  from  taxes  would  be  increased  almost  three 
times.  So  far  as  per  capita  figures  go,  it  appears  that  the 
weakest  spot  in  the  local  revenue  system  of  Chicago  is  the 
small  amount  of  taxes  paid  for  local  purposes. 

Comparing  the  revenue  of  Chicago  with  that  of  European 
cities,  it  is  found  that  the  local  income  is  below  that  of  any 
city  considered,  without  exception.  The  revenue  of  Paris 
is  about  $5  per  capita  greater;  that  of  London,  Berlin,  and 
Glasgow,  about  $2  greater.  On  the  Paris  basis,  its  revenue 
would  be  about  $10,000,000  larger  than  at  present;  on  the 
basis  of  the  other  cities  in  question,  about  $3,000,000  more 
than  is  now  received.  Such  comparisons  are  unfair,  however, 
since  they  disregard  the  difference  in  the  purchasing  power 
of  money  in  European  and  American  cities.  Forty  million 
dollars  will  go  farther  in  Berlin  than  in  Chicago,  not  only 
because  of  the  method  of  administration,  but  because  of  the 
different  level  of  prices  prevailing.  If  the  incomes  of  Chicago 
and  Berlin  were  exactly  equal  in  dollars,  the  purchasing 
power  of  the  Berlin  income  would  be  greater,  and  our  revenues 
would  in  effect  be  considerably  smaller  than  theirs. 

It  is  a  fair  conclusion,  then,  that  the  revenues  of  Chicago, 
including  not  only  the  city,  but  all  other  local  taxing  bodies, 


182  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

are  lower  than  those  of  any  other  of  the  ten  largest  cities  of 
Europe  and  America.  Consequently,  unless  all  records  for 
efficiency  and  economy  in  the  expenditure  of  money  are 
broken,  our  local  government  must  inevitably  suffer  in 
comparison  with  that  of  other  great  metropolitan  com- 
munities. A  decentralized,  unsystematic,  and  irresponsible 
system  of  local  finances,  operated  under  a  bipartisan  system, 
increases  the  already  great  difficulties  with  which  we  must 
contend. 

A  comparison  of  expenditures  quickly  reveals  the  points 
where  Chicago  suffers  most  from  lack  of  sufficient  revenue. 
Thus  the  police  expenditure  per  capita  in  Chicago  amounts 
to  only  $2.08,  as  against  $2.35  for  Philadelphia,  $2.64  for 
St.  Louis,  $3.11  for  Boston,  and  $3.39  for  New  York.  For 
street  cleaning,  Chicago  expends  62  cents  per  capita,  as  against 
89  cents  for  Philadelphia,  $1.33  for  St.  Louis,  $1.69  for  New 
York,  and  $1.78  for  Boston.  In  such  matters  as  police 
protection  and  street  cleaning  the  great  area  of  Chicago 
makes  the  discrepancy  far  larger  than  these  figures  indicate. 
Again,  for  purposes  of  public  health,  Chicago  contributes 
10  cents  per  capita,  while  the  expense  in  other  cities  of  its 
size  ranges  from  24  to  32  cents.  In  many  other  items  the 
scantiness  of  revenue  is  evident.  But  the  scope  of  this  in- 
vestigation does  not  cover  the  matter  of  expenditure,  and 
consequently  no  extended  analysis  of  such  facts  will  be  made 
here.  Examination  of  the  tables  presented  will  show  many 
interesting  facts  regarding  the  objects  of  local  expenditure 
in  this  country  and  abroad.^ 

Section  II.    Revenues  of  American  Cities 

In  order  to  make  clearer  the  revenue  systems  in  the  United 
States,  a  description  is  now  given  of  the  revenue  machinery 
and  revenues  of  New  York,  Philadelphia,  St.  Louis,  and 
Boston.    The  revenues  of  each  of  these  cities  are  analyzed, 

■  See  Census  Bulletin  20,  Statistics  of  Cities,  1902-1903,  for  comparative 
statistics  and  a  variety  of  questions. 


REVENUE   SYSTEMS  183 

with  special  attention  to  their  characteristic  features,  and 
in  addition  to  this,  the  general  scheme  of  revenue  administra- 
tion is  outlined.  The  underlying  purpose  is  to  show  where 
and  how  the  local  revenue  system  of  Chicago  deviates  from 
that  of  other  great  cities  of  the  United  States. 

NEW  YORK  CITY 

New  York  City  includes  within  its  limits  four  counties  — 
New  York,  Queens,  Kings,  and  Richmond.  The  finances 
of  these  counties  are  included,  however,  in  those  of  the  city, 
the  various  receipts  of  the  counties  being  turned  over  to  the 
city,  and  appropriations  for  county  expenses  being  made  by 
the  city.  Thus,  although  the  county  officers  are  not  appointed 
by,  or  responsible  to,  the  city  government,  and  the  unity  of 
the  local  government  is  to  this  extent  interfered  with,  the 
financial  unity  is  fairly  complete.  The  city  is  further  divided 
into  five  boroughs, — Manhattan,  Brooklyn,  Queens,  the 
Bronx,  and  Richmond, — and  a  variety  of  local  functions, 
notably  those  concerning  local  improvements,  are  vested 
in  these  authorities.  Financial  authority  is,  however,  re- 
tained in  the  hands  of  the  city  as  a  whole,  and,  except  for 
the  interference  of  the  state  legislature,  fiscal  power  in  New 
York  is  pretty  well  centralized.  One  central  authority  regu- 
lates receipts  and  disbursements  for  the  entire  community. 
This  power  is  placed  in  the  board  of  estimate  and  appor- 
tionment, a  body  composed  of  the  mayor,  the  comptroller, 
and  the  president  of  the  board  of  aldermen,  each  having 
three  votes,  and  the  presidents  of  the  five  boroughs  with 
seven  votes  all  together. 

The  revenue  machinery  of  New  York  City  is  made  up  of 
a  considerable  variety  of  administrative  authorities.  There 
is,  in  the  first  place,  an  elective  comptroller,  in  whose  hands 
is  placed  the  direction  of  the  fiscal  policy  of  the  city.  Under 
this  office  are  five  bureaus,  which  are  concerned  with  (1)  the 
collection  of  revenue  from  interest  on  bonds  and  mortgages, 
and  the  rents  of  city  property;    (2)  the  collection  of  taxes; 


184  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

(3)  assessments  and  arrears;  there  is  also  (4)  an  auditing 
bureau;  and  (5)  the  city  chamberlain,  or  treasurer.  None 
of  the  officers  in  these  bureaus  is  elected  except  the  comp- 
troller. In  addition  to  these,  there  are  the  commissioners 
of  the  sinking  fund,  a  body  composed  of  the  mayor,  the 
comptroller,  the  chamberlain,  the  president  of  the  board 
of  aldermen,  and  the  chairman  of  the  finance  committee; 
and  also  two  commissioners  of  accounts,  in  charge  of  the 
city's  accounting  system. 

The  assessment  of  taxes  is  conducted  by  the  department 
of  taxes  and  assessments,  a  board  of  five  members  appointed 
by  the  mayor ;  and  the  revision  of  assessments  is  in  the  hands 
of  the  comptroller,  the  corporation  counsel,  and  the  presi- 
dent of  the  department  of  taxes  and  assessments,  who 
constitute  a  board  of  review.  The  collection  of  taxes  is 
carried  on  by  the  office  of  the  receiver  of  taxes.  Further- 
more, there  is  a  board  of  assessors  (three  at  $3000),  whose 
function  is  to  spread  such  special  assessments  as  have  been 
approved.  There  is,  in  addition  to  these,  a  commissioner 
of  taxes  (an  appointive  officer),  who  has  nothing  to  do  with 
taxes  at  all,  but  does  have  jurisdiction  over  the  licensing 
and  regulation  of  employment  offices.  Saloon  licenses  are 
collected  by  the  state  excise  commissioner,  through  his 
deputies  and  assistants. 

Taking  up  the  principal  items  of  revenue,  we  may  say  that 
taxes  are  levied  and  collected  by  city  officers,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  franchise  tax  assessed  by  the  state  board; 
special  assessments  are  spread  by  the  board  of  assessors, 
and  collected  by  the  department  of  assessments  and  arrears ; 
the  receipts  from  municipal  industries,  of  which  the  most 
important  are  water  and  docks,  are  collected  by  these  de- 
partments respectively;  licenses  (except  saloon  licenses, 
which  are  collected  by  the  state)  are  collected  partly  by  the 
bureau  of  licenses,  and  in  small  part  by  the  mayor's  office. 
Street-railway  and  other  public-service  privilege  revenues  gen- 
erally are  under  the  supervision  of  the  bureau  of  franchises. 


REVENUE   SYSTEMS  185 

but  collected  by  the  collector  of  city  revenue.  The  col- 
lector of  city  revenue  is  also  responsible  for  the  collection 
of  rentals  on  city  property.  All  officers  receiving  money 
must  make  a  daily  return  to  the  oflEice  of  the  city  chamber- 
lain, with  the  exception  of  the  county  fee  officers,  who  make 
a  monthly  accounting. 

It  should  not  be  inferred  from  this  catalogue  of  revenue 
officers  that  there  is  a  lack  of  necessary  centralization  in  New 
York  City.  There  are,  it  is  true,  a  number  of  state  officers 
overlapping  to  some  extent  the  local,  but,  as  far  as  local 
officers  are  concerned,  there  is  no  such  difficulty.  The  city 
of  New  York,  and  the  four  counties  of  New  York,  Kings, 
Queens,  and  Richmond,  are  coterminous  and  consolidated. 
They  have  one  central  financial  body,  the  board  of  estimate 
and  apportionment;  one  budget  covers  the  expenses  of  all; 
they  have  one  treasurer:  agencies  of  the  city  are  found  in 
the  various  boroughs  for  purposes  of  collecting  taxes  and 
various  licenses;  but  the  financial  authority  is  centralized. 
All  money  received  passes  through  the  hands  of  the  city 
chamberlain,  and  all  expenditures  pass  through  the  board 
of  estimate  and  apportionment.  Only  a  few  fee  officers 
still  survive  as  an  exception  to  this. 

A  notable  feature  of  the  New  York  system  is  the  attention 
given  to  the  auditing  of  revenue  and  expense.  In  addition 
to  the  regular  corps  of  auditors,  consisting  of  one  hundred 
men,  there  is  a  department  of  investigation  in  the  office  of 
the  comptroller.  This  is  made  up  of  sixteen  men,  eight  of 
whom  are  selected  for  their  ability  as  investigators,  and  eight 
constitute  the  clerical  force.  The  principal  duty  of  these 
officers  is  the  audit  of  claims  against  the  city,  but  they  are 
available,  and  are  used  for  the  purpose  of  making  special 
inquiries  and  examinations  under  the  direction  of  the  comp- 
troller. Thousands  of  dollars  are  saved  annually  through 
the  activity  of  this  department.  In  addition  to  this  force 
in  the  comptroller's  office,  there  are  under  the  mayor  two 
commissioners  of  accounts,  one  of  whom  must  be  a  certified 


186  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

accountant.  The  work  of  these  commissioners  is  to  examine 
city  receipts  and  disbursements  every  three  months,  and  also 
to  make  special  reports  from  time  to  time  on  the  accounts 
and  methods  of  the  various  departments  of  the  city  govern- 
ment.    About  eighty  men  are  employed  in  this  office. 

The  aggregate  ordinary  revenue  of  New  York  City  is  about 
$107,000,000.  Of  this  sum  the  largest  items  are  taxes, 
$76,000,000;  municipal  industries,  $13,000,000;  licenses, 
$7,500,000;  special  assessments,  $7,000,000;  and  depart- 
mental receipts,  a  little  over  $1,000,000. 

Taxes  are  raised  on  a  valuation  of  $4,751,532,106,  real 
estate,  and  $680,866,092,  personal  property,  or  a  total 
of  $5,432,398,198.  The  real-estate  valuation  includes  the 
franchise  values  of  special  privilege  corporations,  which  are 
assessed  by  the  state  and  returned  to  the  city.  These  fran- 
chises were  valued  at  $235,000,000  in  1903,  and  in  1904  at 
$251,000,000.  Of  this  latter  amount  $190,000,000  is  found 
in  Manhattan  borough  alone.  A  decided  gain  in  the  valuation 
of  real  estate  has  been  made  in  recent  years,  notably  under 
the  administration  of  Seth  Low.  The  assessment  of  real 
estate  was  raised  from  $2,932,000,000  in  1899  to  $4,751,000,000 
in  1903.  In  valuing  real  estate,  the  assessments  of  land 
and  improvements  are  placed  in  separate  columns,  and  the 
assessments  published  yearly  in  convenient  sections.  The 
local  tax  on  real  and  personal  property  is  supplemented  by 
a  series  of  state  taxes  on  corporations. 

In  addition  to  the  taxes  mentioned,  the  law  of  1902  pro- 
vides for  the  assessment  and  taxation  of  bank  shares.  The 
value  of  each  share  is  ascertained  by  adding  the  capital 
stock,  surplus,  and  undivided  profits,  and  dividing  the  result 
by  the  number  of  shares  outstanding.  The  tax  of  1  per 
cent  levied  on  this  valuation  is  collected  by  the  banks  and 
returned  to  the  receiver  of  taxes.  In  1903  the  assessed 
valuation  of  such  shares  amounts  to  $266,692,116,  on  which 
a  tax  of  $2,666,000  was  collected. 

The  tax-rate  in  New  York  City  ranges  from  $1.41367  per 


REVENUE   SYSTEMS  187 

$100  in  Manhattan  and  the  Bronx  to  $1.49675  in  Richmond. 
Since  the  valuation  of  real  estate  has  advanced,  the  tax- 
rate  has  fallen  from  $2.4804,  the  rate  in  1899.  Practically 
all  of  the  tax  goes  to  the  locality,  as  the  rate  for  state  pur- 
poses is  only  thirteen  one-hundredths  of  a  mill. 

From  municipal  industries  a  revenue  of  about  $13,000,000 
is  derived.  Of  this  the  waterworks  return  about  $9,000,000, 
the  city  docks  about  $3,0(50,000,  city  markets  and  other 
property  about  $1,000,000.  Interest  on  public  deposits 
amounts  to  $264,000  (1904).  This  is  reckoned  at  the  rate  of 
2  per  cent  on  daily  deposits.  The  average  daily  balance 
runs  from  two  to  ten  millions.  The  law  provides  that  public 
deposits  in  any  given  bank  shall  not  exceed  one-half  of  the 
capital  stock  and  surplus  of  the  institution,  and  a  list  of  the 
depositaries,  with  the  amount  of  interest  paid  by  each,  is 
published  annually.  There  are  156  depositaries  of  city  and 
county  funds  (114  banks  and  42  trust  companies),  and  29 
depositaries  for  court  and  trust  funds,  making  a  total  of  185 
official  depositaries. 

About  $7,000,000  is  paid  in  the  form  of  special  assessments. 
These  improvements  are  initiated  in  a  local  improvement 
district,  approved  by  the  board  of  estimate  and  apportion- 
ment, and  then  spread  by  the  board  of  assessors.  Assess- 
ments are  not  levied  for  repairing  or  renewal,  but  such 
expense  is  borne  by  the  city. 

The  license  revenue  of  New  York  City  is  about  $7,500,000. 
Of  this  the  saloons  pay  about  $6,000,000,  which  is  one-half 
of  the  total  license  paid  by  them.  The  balance  goes  to  the 
state.  The  rate  varies  from  $750  in  boroughs  of  50,000  to 
500,000,  to  $1200  in  boroughs  of  from  500,000  to  1,500,000, 
and  is  collected  under  the  supervision  of  a  special  state  officer, 
the  excise  commissioner.  The  next  largest  item  is  that 
of  fines  and  forfeitures,  from  which  $1,000,000  is  obtained. 
Other  important  items  are  receipts  from  pawnbrokers, 
about  $100,000;  from  theatrical  and  concert  licenses,  about 
$60,000;   from  sidewalk  stands,  about  $25,000. 


188  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

Departmental  receipts  (about  $1,000,000)  are  derived  from 
a  variety  of  miscellaneous  sources.  Of  these,  one  of  the 
most  important  is  the  court  fees  of  the  various  counties. 
These  are  turned  in  to  the  city  treasury  monthly  by  the 
respective  court  officers.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  a  con- 
siderable body  of  trust  funds  is  also  in  the  hands  of  the 
treasurer,  and  that  the  interest  on  these  funds  goes  to  the 
city.  As  custodian  of  these  court  funds,  the  chamberlain 
holds  about  $4,500,000,  on  which  net  earnings  amount  to 
$133,000. 

Public-service  privileges  are  credited  with  $700,000  annual 
returns.  This  does  not  include,  however,  the  revenue  from 
the  special  franchises  assessed  and  taxed  as  real  estate. 
From  street  railways  about  $400,000  is  obtained.  This  is 
based  on  a  license  of  from  $20  to  $50  per  car  for  some  lines, 
and  for  others  on  a  percentage  of  the  gross  receipts  ranging 
from  one-third  of  1  per  cent  to  8  per  cent,  but  which  in  most 
cases  is  from  3  to  5  per  cent.^  Incidental  revenue  is  derived 
from  pipe  lines,  tunnel  and  vault  space,  and  bay-windows. 
From  gas  and  electric  lighting  companies  the  returns  are 
inconsiderable.  The  principal  contribution  is  made  by  the 
East  River  Gas  Co.,  which  pays  $20,000,  or  3  per  cent  of  its 
gross  receipts. 

By  way  of  state  grants  the  city  receives  about  $1,300,000. 
This  is  a  grant  in  aid  of  schools  and  libraries,  but  it  is  partly 
offset  by  the  city's  payment  to  the  state  for  schools,  in  the 
form  of  general  state  tax. 

The  debt  of  New  York  aggregates  $532,997,235.  From 
this  must  be  deducted  sinking-fund  assets,  leaving  the  amount 
at  $381,687,512.  Estimated  per  capita,  this  is  a  burden  of 
$102.68.  If  the  assets  of  the  city  are  figured  in,  however, 
the  debt  is  reversed  to  a  balance  in  favor  of  New  York.  The 
salable  assets  amount  to  $524,000,000,  so  that  the  city  is 
really  in  a  prosperous  condition. 

The  assembly  of  1905  provided  for  two  new  classes  of  taxes, 
•  See  Comptroller's  Report  for  1902,  p.  303. 


REVENUE   SYSTEMS  189 

which  are  now  in  the  experimental  stage.  These  are  a  tax 
on  mortgages  and  a  tax  on  stock  transfers.  The  mortgage 
tax  is  levied  at  a  rate  of  five  mills  per  dollar.  It  is  collected 
by  the  state,  and  one-half  of  the  proceeds  is  returned  to  the 
locality.  The  stock-transfer  law  of  1905  prescribes  a  tax 
on  stock  transfers.  This  is  imposed  on  "all  sales,  or  agree- 
ments to  sell,  or  memoranda  of  sales  or  deliveries  or  transfers 
of  shares  and  certificates  of  stock  in  any  domestic  or  foreign 
association,  company,  or  corporation."  On  such  transfers 
a  tax  of  two  cents  per  $100  is  placed.  Taxes  so  collected  are 
paid  into  the  state  treasury,  and  the  locality  has  no  share 
in  the  revenue  raised. 

The  conspicuous  features  in  the  revenue  system  of  New 
York  are,  then,  the  consolidation  of  local  financial  power  in 
the  hands  of  the  board  of  estimate  and  apportionment,  the 
taxation  of  franchises  as  real  estate,  the  large  revenue  from 
municipal  industries,  and  the  heavy  payments  by  saloons. 
The  mortgage  tax  and  the  stock-transfer  tax  introduce  new 
elements  into  the  system.  The  careful  provision  for  the 
auditing  and  inspection  of  revenues  and  expenditures  is  a 
feature  of  the  New  York  system  not  to  be  overlooked.* 

PHILADELPHIA 

In  Philadelphia  the  limits  of  city  and  county  are  coter- 
minous, and  the  governments  are  practically  merged  into 
a  consolidated  county-city.  There  is  consequently  a  unified 
management  of  local  finances,  without  division  of  authority 
over  receipts  and  disbursements.  The  principal  financial 
authorities  of  Philadelphia  are  the  comptroller,  elected  for 
a  term  of  three  years;  the  treasurer,  elected  for  the  same 
term ;  and  the  receiver  of  taxes,  similarly  chosen.  Of  these 
officers,  the  comptroller  is  most  important  in  directing  the 
financial  policy  of  the  city.    He  has  general  supervision  over 

'See  Annotated  Charter  of  New  York  (second  edition);  E.  Dana  Du- 
rand,  The  Finances  of  New  York  City.  The  Comptroller's  Annual  Report 
contains  a  very  detailed  analysis  of  New  York  revenues. 


190  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

the  finances  of  the  city,  while  the  work  of  auditing  is  also 
conducted  in  his  department.  More  than  any  other  officer, 
he  has  the  power  to  direct  the  fiscal  policy  of  the  city. 

The  principal  items  in  the  revenue  of  Philadelphia  are,  in 
round  numbers:  — 

Taxes $18,415,000 

Municipal  industries 6,073,000 

Licenses 2,103,000 

Departmental  receipts 1,127,000 

State  grants 910,000 

Special  assessments 710,000 

Public-service  privileges 113,000 

Taxes  are  levied  on  real  property,  which  amounts  to  $910,- 
000,000,  and  $427,000,000  of  personalty.  On  real  property 
three  rates  are  levied:  a  "city  rate"  of  $1.50,  a  "suburban 
rate"  of  $1,  and  a  "farm  rate"  of  $0.75.  The  "farm  rate" 
applies  to  land  used  for  agricultural  purposes ;  the  "  suburban 
rate,"  to  property  partially  equipped  with  sewer  and  water 
connections,  and  urban  improvements;  and  the  full  rate, 
to  fully  improved  property.  Practically  all  of  the  valuation 
is  based  on  the  "city"  property,  however.  On  personal 
property  there  is  a  rate  of  40  cents  per  $100,  of  which  one- 
fourth  goes  to  the  state.  Taxes  are  assessed  in  advance  of 
the  fiscal  year  for  which  the  levy  is  made.  Thus  the  1905 
tax  is  assessed  in  1904,  the  fists  are  revised,  the  tax  levy  made, 
and  the  budget  voted  before  the  beginning  of  the  fiscal  year 
1905.  The  tax  is  collected  during  the  current  fiscal  year, 
the  bulk  of  it  being  paid  in  the  month  of  August,  as  the  penalty 
begins  September  1.  Except  for  the  40  cents  per  $100  on 
personal  property,  the  state  receives  no  general  tax  from 
local  property.  An  elaborate  system  of  corporation  taxes 
and  miscellaneous  licenses  obviates  the  necessity  of  any  con- 
siderable local  taxation  for  state  purposes. 

A  special  form  of  tax  in  Philadelphia  is  the  mercantile 
license  tax.  This  is  based  on  the  whole  volume  of  business 
transacted  annually  by  dealers  in  merchandise.  Retailers 
are  required  to  pay  a  license  fee  of  $1  per  $1000  on  the  whole 


REVENUE   SYSTEMS  191 

volume  of  business  transacted  annually;  wholesalers  pay  at 
the  rate  of  50  cents  per  $1000;  exchanges  and  boards  of 
trade,  at  the  rate  of  25  cents  per  $1000.  Returns  are  made 
by  dealers  to  a  board  of  mercantile  appraisers  appointed 
by  the  state  auditor  and  the  city  treasurer.  Dealers  may 
be  required  to  appear  in  person,  and  to  produce  books  and 
papers  necessary  to  show  the  amount  of  business  transacted. 
The  returns  made  are  not  pubhshed,  nor  are  they  open  to 
public  inspection.  From  this  source  about  $190,000  is  paid 
to  the  state  by  retail  merchants,  and  $160,000  by  wholesale 
dealers,  a  total  of  about  $350,000.  Under  this  system  there 
is  of  course  no  tax  on  the  goods  or  wares  of  the  dealers  so 
licensed.  The  city  does  not  share  in  the  returns  from  this 
form  of  license.^ 

From  licenses  Philadelphia  derives  a  revenue  of  about 
$2,000,000.  The  principal  item  in  this  amount  is  the  saloon 
license  of  $1,800,000.  The  rate  is  fixed  at  $1,103.75,  of 
which  the  state  receives  $100.  The  sum  of  $105,000  is  ob- 
tained from  street-car  licenses  of  $50  a  car  and  $100  for  cars 
crossing  a  bridge.  In  1904  there  were  225  "bridge"  cars, 
and  1945  ordinary  cars.^  In  addition  to  this,  a  number  of 
charges  are  made  in  the  shape  of  paving  requirements  and 
taxes  on  dividends.  Other  items  of  license  revenue  are  com- 
paratively small,  but  a  considerable  amount  is  paid  directly 
to  the  state  for  miscellaneous  licenses,  such  as  those  required 
of  bottlers,  brokers,  auctioneers,  etc' 

The  revenue  from  municipal  industries  in  Philadelphia  is 
about  $6,000,000.  The  most  important  of  the  items  that 
make  up  this  total  is  the  $3,500,000  paid  by  the  water  depart- 

^  There  is  also  a  poll-tax  in  Philadelphia,  from  which  about  $25,000 
is  obtained  annually.  The  law  has  required  the  payment  of  the  poll-tax 
as  a  qualification  for  suffrage. 

2  See  F.  W.  Speirs,  "The  Street  Railway  System  of  Philadelphia," 
Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies,  15th  Series,  Nos.  Ill,  IV,  V  (1897). 

'  Philadelphia  County  paid  to  the  state  (1903)  for  bottlers,  $110,000; 
brewers,  $83,000;  wholesale  liquor-dealers,  $180,000;  bankers,  $16,000; 
eating-houses,  $20,000. 


192  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

ment.  Other  important  items  are  the  rent  of  wharves  and 
landings,  from  which  about  $50,000  is  reahzed,  and  the  rent 
of  city  real  estate,  amounting  to  about  $16,000.  Another 
large  sum  is  the  amount  obtained  from  interest  on  public 
deposits.  This  reached  a  total  of  $281,491  in  1903.  Interest 
is  paid  at  the  rate  of  2  per  cent  on  daily  deposits,  which  in 
Philadelphia  are  very  large.  The  average  balance  carried 
by  the  city  in  the  seventy-nine  banks  and  trust  companies 
used  as  depositories  is  about  $20,000,000.  The  law  provides 
that  the  deposits  placed  in  any  one  institution  shall  not 
exceed  25  per  cent  of  its  capital  stock  and  surplus.  A  list 
of  depositaries,  seventy-nine  in  number,  with  the  balances 
in  each  and  the  amount  of  interest  paid  by  each,  is  printed 
in  the  comptroller's  annual  report  of  1903  (pp.  28  and  46). 
Another  very  considerable  source  of  revenue  in  Philadelphia 
is  the  lease  of  the  gas-works.  The  United  Gas  Improve- 
ment Co.  pays  into  the  city  treasury  10  per  cent  on  all 
collections  for  the  sale  of  gas.  This  amounted,  in  1903,  to 
$636,000,*  and  has  doubled  within  the  last  four  years. 

Receipts  from  the  various  city  departments  amount  to 
$1,127,000.  A  great  part  of  this  comes  from  the  county 
officers :  for  example,  the  recorder  of  deeds  pays  in  $145,000  ; 
the  registrar  of  wills,  $106,000;  the  sheriff,  $50,000;  the 
prothonotary,  $60,000.  Institutions  for  the  insane  pay 
$125,000;  building  inspection,  $45,000;  boiler  inspection, 
$26,000. 

State  grants  in  Philadelphia  are  placed  at  $910,000.  Of 
this  practically  all  is  designed  for  school  purposes,  as  is  the 
case  in  other  cities  where  such  grants  are  made.  This  amount 
is  apportioned  on  the  basis  of  the  "exact  number  of  taxable 
citizens"  in  the  respective  school  districts  of  the  state.^ 

Special  assessments  in  Philadelphia  amount  to  only  $700,- 

»  1898,  $193,000;  1899,  $340,000;  1900,  $375,000;  1901,  $416,000; 
1902,  $476,000. 

*  There  is  also  a  state  tax  of  2  per  cent  on  gross  premiums  of  foreign 
fire  insurance  companies,  of  which  one-half  is  paid  to  the  several  cities 
and  boroughs  as  a  fund  for  disabled  firemen. 


REVENUE   SYSTEMS  193 

000,  as  compared  with  $4,000,000  for  Chicago  and  $7,000,000 
for  New  York.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  a  large  amount 
of  repaying  and  repairing  of  streets  is  done  by  the  city  itself. 
In  1904  the  appropriation  for  the  bureau  of  highways  was 
$3,270,000,  of  which  practically  all  was  applied  to  repairs 
of  streets.  The  returns  from  what  would  elsewhere  be  termed 
special  assessments  appear  as  charges  under  various  depart- 
ments. Under  the  bureau  of  surveys  a  charge  is  made  for 
paving,  sewers,  curbing,  etc.  These  charges  are  assessed 
by  the  surveyor,  and  are  collected  by  the  contractor  instead 
of  by  the  city. 

Public-service  privileges,  as  reported  by  the  Census  Bulletin 
($113,000),  are  smaller  in  Philadelphia  than  in  any  city  of 
its  size.  This  sum  is  made  up  by  the  payments  made  to 
the  city  on  the  part  of  the  street  railways.  The  rate  is  fixed 
at  6  per  cent  of  all  dividends  paid  by  the  company  above 
6  per  cent,  or  in  some  cases  at  6  per  cent  on  all  dividends, 
according  to  the  terms  of  the  various  charters.  In  addition 
to  this  payment  and  to  the  car  license  already  noted,  there 
are  considerable  contributions  made  by  the  street  railway 
companies  for  the  purpose  of  paving  and  repairing  streets. 
All  but  one  of  the  companies  are  obliged  to  keep  in  repair  and 
good  order  all  streets  occupied  by  their  tracks.  Further- 
more, there  is  a  general  state  tax  of  one-half  of  1  per  cent  on 
capital  stock,  and  of  eight-tenths  of  1  per  cent  on  gross  re- 
ceipts. In  1897  Mr.  Speirs  estimated  these  various  contribu- 
tions as  follows:  — 

Paving  and  repairing $450,000 

Dividends 92,000 

Car  license 97,000 

Total $639,000 

Tax  on  capital  stock $432,844 

Tax  on  gross  receipts 91,391 

*  Grand  total $1,163,235 

This  does  not  include  taxes  on  real  estate  or  interest  on  invest- 
ment in  pavements.    Under  this  heading  might  be  included 

o 


194  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

the  large  payments  made  by  the  gas  company  to  the  city, 
but  this  has  been  already  discussed  in  the  consideration  of 
municipal  industries. 

The  collection  of  these  items  of  revenue  is  centralized  in 
the  receiver  of  taxes.  Practically  all  moneys  are  paid  in 
to  him,  including  taxes,  real  and  personal,  and  water  rents. 
The  payment  by  the  gas  company  is  made  to  the  treasurer, 
and  also  the  saloon  licenses.  Court  fees  are  paid  to  the  vari- 
ous court  officers  and  later  deposited  with  the  treasurer. 

The  auditing  of  accounts  is  conducted  in  the  office  of  the 
comptroller,  under  the  direction  of  the  chief  auditor.  In 
the  examination  and  verification  of  revenues  alone  there  are 
twenty  men  employed,  and  another  twenty  are  engaged  in 
the  work  of  auditing  the  expenditures.  Of  those  occupied 
on  the  revenues,  seven  work  on  taxes,  four  on  water  collec- 
tions, three  on  gas  company  payments,  and  five  are  classed 
as  miscellaneous.  This  makes  possible  a  careful  examina- 
tion of  the  various  sources  of  city  income,  with  a  view  to 
determining  whether  all  accounts  due  are  collected  and 
turned  into  the  treasury,  and  the  stopping-up  of  any  leaks 
in  the  sources  of  supply. 

The  debt  of  Philadelphia  amounts  to  $58,000,000,  or,  sub- 
tracting the  sinking-fund  assets,  $50,654,640.  This  gives 
a  burden  of  debt  per  capita  of  $36.86.  As  an  offset  to  this 
there  are,  however,  assets  of  importance  to  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration. These  assets  reach  a  total  of  $200,000,000,  in- 
cluding such  items  as  waterworks  ($59,000,000),  gas-works 
($27,000,000),  City  Hall  ($27,000,000),  parks  (about  $30,000,- 
000),  and  public  trust  funds  ($21,000,000).  In  the  presence 
of  such  assets  as  these,  the  debt  of  the  city  appears  to  be 
inconsiderable. 

Among  the  important  features  of  the  Pennsylvania  system 
are  the  practical  elimination  of  the  general  property  tax  as 
a  source  of  state  revenue.  The  only  state  rate  now  levied 
is  the  40  cents  on  personal  property,  of  which  only  one-fourth 
is  retained  by  the  state.    The  state,  in  return  for  this,  levies 


REVENUE   SYSTEMS  195 

extensive  corporation  taxes,  which  fall  heavily  on  Phila- 
delphia, and  receives  further  support  from  the  mercantile- 
license  system  and  from  other  miscellaneous  licenses.  An- 
other important  feature  is  the  method  of  assessment  of  taxes 
in  advance  of  the  fiscal  year,  thus  making  possible  the  col- 
lection of  taxes  during  the  current  fiscal  year.  Another 
interesting  aspect  of  the  Philadelphia  situation  is  the  small 
revenue  realized  from  special  assessments.  Finally,  the  con- 
solidation of  city  and  county,  with  the  accompanying  unity 
of  financial  administration,  ought  not  to  be  ignored.  This 
concentration  of  power  makes  possible  a  centralized  control 
of  all  receipts  and  disbursements,  locating  power  and  respon- 
sibility at  a  point  that  is  not  only  ascertainable,  but  eminent 
and  conspicuous.* 

ST.   LOUIS 

The  corporate  authorities  of  St.  Louis  have  jurisdiction 
over  practically  the  entire  field  of  local  revenues  and  expen- 
ditures. The  county  proper  of  St.  Louis  covers  only  the  terri- 
tory lying  outside  of  the  city.  The  school  board,  an  elective 
body  of  twelve  members,  is,  however,  an  independent  finan- 
cial agent,  and  the  public  library  board  is  separated  from 
the  city  financially.  The  principal  financial  authorities  of 
the  city  —  a  comptroller,  an  auditor,  a  treasurer,  a  collector, 
and  a  president  of  the  board  of  assessors  —  are  elected  by 
the  people  for  a  term  of  four  years.  The  mayor,  the  comp- 
troller, and  the  treasurer  also  constitute  a  fund  commission. 

Of  these  officers,  the  chief  is  the  comptroller,  who  is  most 
active  in  the  direction  of  the  fiscal  policy  of  the  city.  He 
has  general  supervision  of  the  finances  of  the  city,  and  is 
entitled  to  a  seat  in  either  branch  of  the  municipal  assembly, 
and  to  the  right  to  speak,  but  not  to  vote.  The  auditor  is 
practically  the  chief  accountant,  and  the  treasurer  has  merely 
the  custody  of  the  city  funds. 

*  See  a  Digest  of  Laws  and  Ordinances  Concerning  Philadelphia,  1905. 


196  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

The  principal  items  in  the  revenue  of  St.  Louis  are  as 
follows :  — 

Taxes $9,456,773 

Licenses 1,669,946 

State  grants 202,251 

Municipal  industries 2,173,037 

Public-service  privileges 266,439 

Departmental  receipts 518,622 

Special  assessments 3,261,143 

Total,  including  miscellaneous $17,608,112 

The  principal  item  in  the  revenues  of  St.  Louis,  as  in  the 
other  cities  considered,  is  the  general  property  tax,  while 
special  features  of  this  system  are  the  parts  played  by  the 
state  board  of  equalization  and  the  merchants'  and  manu- 
facturers' license  and  tax.  The  local  assessment  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  president  of  the  board  of  assessors,  an  elective 
officer,  and  deputy  assessors  appointed  by  the  mayor.  As 
in  Philadelphia,  the  system  of  assessment  in  advance  is  em- 
ployed. Thus  assessment  for  1905  taxes  was  begun  June  1, 
1904,  and  completed  by  the  next  January.  The  assessments 
are  then  passed  upon  by  the  board  of  equalization,  consisting 
of  the  president  of  the  board  of  assessors  and  four  appointees 
of  the  circuit  court,  who  must  complete  their  work  by  the 
fourth  Monday  in  May.  In  addition  to  this  local  assessment, 
the  state  board  of  equalization  assesses  railway  property, 
including  street  railways,  and  returns  the  amounts  to  the 
city  on  the  basis  of  main  line  mileage. 

Collections  are  made  by  the  city  collector,  the  bulk  of  the 
tax  coming  in  during  the  first  week  of  September  and  the 
last  week  in  December.  A  rebate  at  the  rate  of  8  per  cent 
from  the  date  of  payment  to  December  31  following  is  made 
on  all  bills  paid  before  October  1.  School  and  library  taxes 
are  collected  by  the  city  in  the  general  collection. 

The  assessed  valuation  of  St.  Louis  for  1903^  was  :— 

Real  estate $337,592,210 

Personal 78,232,310 

By  state  board 28,041,042 

Total $443,865,562 


REVENUE   SYSTEMS 


197 


On  this  the  rate  of  taxation  was  2,19,  distributed  in  this 
way:  — 


Chicago  Babib 


State         .      . 
Public  schools 
City    .     .     . 
Public  library 


0.17 

0.85 

0.55 

2.75 

1.43 

7.15 

0.04 

0.20 

2.19 


10.95 


A  striking  feature  of  the  St.  Louis  system  is  the  merchants' 
and  manufacturers'  special  tax  and  hcense.  The  law  speci- 
fies that : — 

Each  merchant,  mercantile  firm,  or  corporation  is  required  to  fur- 
nish the  License  Collector  a  statement  of  the  value  of  the  largest 
amount  of  all  goods,  wares,  and  merchandise  which  he  may  have 
had  in  his  possession  or  under  his  control  at  any  time,  between  the 
first  Monday  of  March  and  the  first  Monday  of  June  in  each  year. 

Each  and  every  person  defined  to  be  a  manufacturer  shall  furnish 
to  the  License  Collector  a  statement  of  the  value  of  the  greatest  aggre- 
gate amount  of  raw  materials,  merchandise,  and  finished  products 
(to  be  listed  separately)  which  he  had  on  hand  on  any  one  day  be- 
tween the  first  Monday  of  March  and  the  first  Monday  of  June  in  each 
year,  as  well  as  all  tools,  machinery,  and  appliances  used  in  conducting 
his  business  or  owned  by  him,  on  the  first  day  of  June  in  each  year. 

Each  merchant  or  manufacturer  shall  furnish  a  statement  of  the 
aggregate  amount  of  all  sales  made  during  the  year  next  preceding 
the  first  Monday  of  June,  of  the  then  current  year,  verified  by  the 
affidavit  of  the  merchant,  manufacturer,  or  officer  of  the  corporation 
making  it. 

On  the  merchandise  and  manufacturers'  material  a  tax 
of  92  cents  per  $100  is  levied  (regular  tax-rate  2.19),  while 
on  the  gross  sales  a  city  license  of  $1  per  $1000  is  required. 
Thus  a  merchant  having  a  stock  of  the  value  of  $10,000  and 
sales  of  $50,000  will  pay  on  the  stock  a  tax  of  92  cents,  or 
$92,  and  on  sales  a  license  fee  of  $1  per  $1000,  or  $50;  a 
total  of  $142,  tax  and  license.  Sworn  returns  of  stock  and 
sales  are  made  to  the  collector,  who  has  the  right  to  examine 
the  books  in  order  to  test  the  accuracy  of  the  returns.     The 


198  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

lists  are  not  published,  but  are  open  to  inspection  by  the 
public.    $564,000  was  realized  from  this  source  in  1904. 

Licenses  in  St.  Louis  aggregate  about  $1,700,000  ($1,669,- 
946).  With  the  exception  of  the  saloon  licenses,  they  are 
collected  by  the  license  commissioner,  an  officer  appointed 
by  the  mayor.  The  commissioner  employs  on  the  collection 
of  these  miscellaneous  revenues  alone  a  force  of  twenty- 
eight  men,  fourteen  of  whom  operate  in  the  field.  The  saloon 
license  in  St.  Louis  is  $600  a  year,  and  $100  of  this  amount 
goes  to  the  state.  Payments  are  made  semiannually.  About 
$1,300,000  ($1,264,975.68)  was  realized  from  this  source 
during  the  year  1904. 

Other  important  sources  of  income  from  licenses  are :  — 

Vehicles $74,831.50 

Peddlers 26,596.70 

Insurance    companies,    commission    merchants, 

restaurants,  dogs,  aggregate  each  about    .  18,000.00 

Hotels  are  taxed  from  $2.50  up;  restaurants,  $10  to  $100; 
intelligence  offices,  $300;  banks,  $100  each. 

From  municipal  industries  the  city  derives  a  revenue  of 
about  $2,000,000  ($2,173,037).  Water  rates  contribute  almost 
all  of  this  amount,  but  there  are  minor  receipts  from  wharf- 
age and  wharf  rents,  markets,  and  institutional  industries. 

The  deposit  of  public  funds  with  banks  is  in  charge  of  the 
mayor,  comptroller,  and  treasurer,  who  select  a  bank  or 
banks  offering  the  highest  rate  of  interest.  A  deposit  of 
$500,000  is  permitted  in  a  single  bank,  with  a  possibility 
of  a  supplementary  deposit  of  $500,000  additional.  There 
are  now  ten  depositaries,  and  interest  is  paid  at  the  rate  of 
2.30  and  2.23  on  daily  balances.  About  $230,000,  including 
$25,000  interest  on  school  funds,  is  realized  from  this  source. 
The  average  deposit  on  hand  is  about  $7,000,000. 

These  revenues,  with  the  exception  of  certain  school  funds, 
are  collected  by  the  city.  The  greater  part  of  the  work  is  per- 
formed by  the  city  collector,  but  licenses  are  collected  by  the 
license  commissioner,  water  rates  by  the  water  department, 


REVENUE    SYSTEMS  199 

and  some  other  items  are  collected  by  miscellaneous  authori- 
ties. Deposits  are  made  daily  with  the  city  treasurer,  with 
some  exceptions,  notably  the  court  fees. 

Receipts  from  public-service  privileges  in  St.  Louis  were, 
in  1903,  $266,439.  The  street-railway  companies  pay  to 
the  city  from  2^  to  5  per  cent  of  their  gross  earnings,  and 
the  amount  reaches  about  $125,000.  Telephone  franchises, 
on  the  same  basis,  bring  in  about  $75,000;  and  from  electric 
companies  about  the  same  amount  is  paid  in.  Street  cars 
are  licensed  at  the  rate  of  $25  a  year.  In  accordance  with 
the  law  of  1901,  a  franchise  tax  is  levied  on  all  special-privilege 
corporations;  but,  except  in  the  case  of  the  gas  company, 
not  much  is  obtained  in  this  way,  owing  to  the  fact  that  local 
charges  are  deducted  from  the  amount  of  the  franchise  tax. 

Departmental  receipts  amount  to  $518,622.  Under  this 
are  included  such  items  as  building  permits  ($20,792),  boiler 
and  elevator  inspection  ($17,723),  and  fees  of  the  various 
court  offices,  of  which  latter  $58,000  is  returned  for  the  record- 
ing of  deeds,  and  about  $50,000  from  the  courts  of  record. 

From  special  assessments  $3,261,143  was  collected  in  1903. 
They  originate  with  the  board  of  public  improvements,  and 
must  be  approved  by  the  municipal  assembly.  Taxes  are 
spread  in  proportion  to  area  and  frontage,  one-fourth  of  the 
cost  being  assessed  on  the  frontage  basis  and  three-fourths 
on  the  area.  The  special  assessments  are  not  collected  by 
the  city,  but  by  the  contractors  themselves.^ 

Among  the  important  and  suggestive  features  of  the  St. 
Louis  revenue  system  are  the  plan  of  advance  assessment, 
the  special-privilege  franchise  tax,  the  merchants'  and  manu- 
facturers' tax  and  license,  and  the  general  tendency  toward 
the  universal  business  or  "privilege  tax."^ 

*  In  St.  Louis  special  districts  for  street  sprinkling  are  created  and 
specially  taxed.  The  sum  of  $178,018.27  was  thus  collected  in  1904-5. 
^See  The  Charter  of  the  City  of  St.  Louis;  the  Revised  Ordinances; 
Frederick  N.  Judson,  Taxation  in  Missouri:  Comptroller's  Report, 
1904-5;  Report  of  the  Board  of  Education ;  Report  of  the  Missouri 
Tax  Commission  of  1903. 


200  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

BOSTON 

The  local  government  of  Boston  differs  from  that  in  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  and  St.  Louis  in  having  a  number  of 
local  authorities  instead  of  a  consolidated  municipal  govern- 
ment. Moreover,  the  various  authorities  differ  markedly 
from  those  in  Chicago;  and  the  nearest  analogy  to  the  exist- 
ing arrangements  are  those  which  existed  for  London  before 
the  establishment  of  the  county  council. 

In  one  important  respect  consolidation  of  authorities  has 
gone  farther  than  in  Chicago.  Although  Suffolk  County  com- 
prises a  small  city  and  two  smaller  towns  in  addition  to  the 
city  of  Boston,  there  are  no  separate  county  financial  au- 
thorities, and  the  county  budget  is  included  in  the  financial 
statements  for  the  city.  But  there  are  a  number  of  special 
boards  outside  of  the  city  government  charged  with  impor- 
tant branches  of  local  administration.  Two  of  these  —  the 
police  board  and  the  rapid  transit  commission  —  exercise 
jurisdiction  only  within  the  city;  and  their  accounts  are 
reported  in  the  city  financial  statements.  Two  others,  how- 
ever, deal  with  a  large  territory  outside  of  the  city,  known 
as  the  metropolitan  district.  These  are  the  metropolitan 
sewer  and  water  board,  and  the  metropolitan  park  com- 
mission, whose  members  are  appointed  by  the  governor  and 
council  of  Massachusetts,  and  derive  their  authority  directly 
from  the  state  legislature. 

This  metropolitan  district  —  which  differs  slightly  for 
each  of  the  two  boards  —  includes  Boston  and  more  than 
a  dozen  cities  and  towns  in  the  immediate  neighborhood, 
which  are  largely  suburban  regions  of  the  one  urban  com- 
munity. But  for  local  sentiment  and  administrative  diffi- 
culties, the  whole  district  might  be  included  within  the  city 
of  Boston,  which  would  then  have  a  population  of  1,100,000. 

One  result  of  the  continuance  of  separate  governments  is 
to  make  per  capita  statements  of  Boston  finances  a  good 
deal  larger  than  if  the  whole  metropolitan  community  were 


REVENUE   SYSTEMS  201 

included,  as  the  heavy  expenses  within  the  business  district 
are  distributed  only  over  the  population  within  the  city 
limits.  Thus  the  total  ordinary  receipts  for  the  city  of  Boston 
for  1903  were  $40.47  per  capita.  But  if  the  receipts  for  the 
eight  other  larger  cities  in  the  metropolitan  district  are  added, 
the  aggregate  is  $32.84  per  capita.  If  the  smaller  cities  and 
towns  were  included,  the  rate  would  be  somewhat  lower  than 
this.  But  the  results  would  still  leave  the  per  capita  receipts 
and  expenditures  for  Boston  larger  than  for  any  other  city. 

For  the  most  accurate  analysis  and  comparison  with  other 
cities,  the  finances  of  all  of  the  cities  and  towns  in  the  metro- 
politan district  should  be  combined.  But  the  data  for  the 
smaller  places  are  not  available;  and  it  has  seemed  inad- 
visable to  present  figures  which  were  neither  for  the  city  of 
Boston  nor  for  the  entire  metropolitan  district.  Thus  the 
statements  given  in  the  tables  are  those  for  the  city  of  Boston, 
with  its  proportion  of  the  transactions  of  the  metropolitan 
boards. 

Boston's  share  of  the  ordinary  revenues  and  expenditures 
of  the  metropolitan  boards  is  practically  included  in  the 
accounts  of  the  city.  The  ordinary  revenues  of  these  boards 
are  received  from  assessments  levied  on  the  different  cities 
and  towns;  and  the  amounts  show  in  Boston's  reports  as 
included  in  the  tax  revenue,  and  as  paid  out  to  the  metro- 
politan boards.  The  census  bulletin,  however,  includes  all 
of  these  payments  under  miscellaneous  general  expenses; 
whereas  they  should  be  distributed  as  maintenance  charges 
for  the  different  purposes,  and  as  interest  and  sinking-fund 
payments.  This  change  has  accordingly  been  made  from 
the  census  arrangement  in  the  tabular  statements. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  debt  statements  of  the  city  of 
Boston  do  not  show  its  share  of  the  debt  incurred  for  the 
metropolitan  undertakings.  The  latter  is  nominally  a  state 
debt;  but  in  fact  it  will  be  paid  only  by  the  communities 
within  the  metropolitan  district.  Accordingly,  Boston's  pro- 
portion of  this  debt  has  been  calculated  on  the  basis  of  its 


202  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

share  of  the  interest  and  sinking-fund  payments;  and  this 
has  been  included  in  the  statement  of  debt  in  the  tables. 

As  in  the  other  American  cities,  the  larger  part  of  the  city's 
revenue  is  derived  from  the  general  property  tax.  This  is 
levied  by  an  ordinance  passing  both  branches  of  the  city 
council  with  the  approval  of  the  mayor.  Department  esti- 
mates of  proposed  expenditure  are  compiled  by  the  city 
auditor  and  revised  by  the  mayor;  but  the  effective  work 
of  determining  the  amount  of  the  budget  and  the  necessary 
tax  levy  is  done  by  the  board  of  aldermen,  the  smaller  branch 
of  the  city  council,  which  in  this  respect  performs  a  similar 
function  to  the  board  of  estimate  and  apportionment  in 
New  York  City.  The  approval  of  the  budget  and  tax  levy 
by  the  common  council  follows;  and  the  ordinance  is  finally 
subject  to  the  veto  power  of  the  mayor. 

While  the  per  capita  tax  is  high,  it  is  important  to  note 
that  the  tax-rate  for  Boston  is  lower  than  in  most  large 
American  cities.  This  is  due  to  the  high  per  capita  valuation 
of  property,  which  is  the  result  of  several  factors:  the  per 
capita  wealth  of  Boston  is  doubtless  higher  than  in  other 
cities;  the  assessed  valuation  is  close  to  the  full  market 
value  of  property;  and,  as  a  consequence  of  the  city  includ- 
ing only  part  of  the  residence  districts,  the  high  value  of 
business  property  is  a  larger  proportion  of  all  property  within 
the  city  limits. 

In  addition  to  the  general  property  tax,  a  large  revenue  is 
derived  from  special  taxes,  especially  those  on  street  railway, 
bank,  and  other  corporations.  These  taxes  are  levied  by  the 
state,  and  are  paid  directly  to  the  state  by  the  corporations. 
But  the  receipts  are  distributed  to  the  cities  and  towns  in 
proportion  to  the  number  of  shares  of  stock  owned  on  the 
miles  of  railroad  track  located  in  each.  Thus,  in  effect,  it  is 
a  local  tax  collected  by  the  state  for  the  cities,  and  not  a  real 
subvention  from  the  state  to  the  city.  Grants  from  the 
state  government  are,  in  fact,  almost  a  negligible  item  in  the 
revenues  of  Boston. 


REVENUE   SYSTEMS  203 

Revenue  from  licenses  is  mainly  from  the  liquor  traffic; 
and  the  rates  for  liquor  licenses  rise  higher  than  in  any  other 
city.  The  minimum  rate  is  $500,  but  this  applies  to  only 
a  small  number  of  places,  while  the  greater  number  pay  the 
higher  rates  of  $1100  and  $2000.  One-fourth  of  the  revenue 
from  these  licenses  goes  to  the  state;  the  remaining  three- 
fourths,  to  the  city.  As  a  result  of  the  high  license  fee  and 
the  restrictions  on  the  granting  of  hcenses,  there  were  only 
786  liquor  saloons  in  Boston  in  1903;  yet  the  revenue  to  the 
city  was  over  $1,000,000. 

Under  receipts  from  public-service  privileges  are  included 
certain  so-called  taxes  on  public-service  corporations.  One 
of  these  is  a  gross  earnings  "tax"  on  street  railways,  in  lieu 
of  other  payments  for  street  repairs;  the  proceeds  of  the  tax 
being  used  for  the  repairs  of  streets.  Another  is  a  special 
franchise  "tax"  on  the  elevated  railway,  specified  to  be  in 
consideration  of  special  privileges  granted. 

Receipts  of  municipal  industries  are  larger  proportionately 
in  Boston  than  in  other  American  cities.  The  waterworks 
produced  $2,349,726  in  1903,  or  60  per  cent  of  the  water 
revenue  in  Chicago,  although  the  population  of  Boston  is 
less  than  a  third  of  Chicago's.  The  municipal  markets 
brought  in  $110,000;   and  other  industries,  $480,000.' 

TORONTO 

For  purposes  of  comparison  with  American  cities,  Toronto 
has  been  selected.  The  general  scheme  of  revenue-raising 
corresponds  roughly  to  our  own,  but  differs  in  important 
particulars.  The  revenue  machinery  of  Toronto  consists 
of  the  treasurer  and  two  auditors,  appointed  by  the  council 
for  an  indefinite  term,  an  assessment  commissioner,  also 
appointed  by  the  council,  together  with  assessors,  valuators, 
and  collectors,  who  are  selected  by  the  commissioner.  There 
is  also  a  court  of  revision  of  assessments,  composed  of  three 

*  See  Boston  Municipal  Register;  Auditor's  Report;  Publications  of 
Bureau  of  Statistics. 


204  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

members,  one  appointed  by  the  mayor,  one  by  the  council, 
and  the  official  arbitrator,  and  the  two  auditors.  Practi- 
cally financial  authority  is  vested  in  the  two  officers,  treasurer 
and  commissioner,  subject  to  the  direction  and  control  of 
the  council.  Although  the  term  of  office  is  indefinite,  tenure 
is  practically  permanent,  as  removals  are  rare.  The  present 
city  treasurer  entered  the  service  of  the  city  in  1873,  and  has 
occupied  his  present  position  since  1888. 

The  total  revenue  of  Toronto  for  the  year  1903  was  about 
$4,000,000.  Of  this  by  far  the  largest  item  was  that  of  taxes, 
which  amounted  to  $3,133,219.  Taxes  are  derived  from  a 
levy  of  $1.90  per  $100  on  a  valuation  of  about  $138,000,000. 
There  is  also  an  income  tax,  with  exemptions  on  income  from 
personal  earnings  to  the  amount  of  $400  to  $1000.  Tele- 
graph and  telephone  companies  are  especially  taxed  on  75 
per  cent  of  their  gross  receipts  (in  cities  of  over  100,000 
inhabitants). 

This  year  there  goes  into  effect  a  law  providing  for  what  is 
termed  "  business  assessment " ;  the  essential  feature  of  this  sys- 
tem is  the  use  of  the  rental  value  of  business  property  as  an  in- 
dication of  income  or  ability  to  pay.    The  law  provides  that — 

Irrespective  of  any  assessment  of  land  under  this  act,  every  person 
occupying  or  using  land  in  the  municipaUty  for  the  purpose  of  any 
business  mentioned  or  described  in  this  section  shall  be  assessed  for  a 
sum  to  be  called  "  business  assessment,"  to  be  computed  by  reference 
to  the  assessed  value  of  the  land  so  occupied  or  used  by  him,  as 
follows :  — 

Every  person  carrying  on  the  business  of  a  distiller  is 
assessed  for  a  sum  equal  to  150  per  cent  of  the  said  assessed 
value;  brewers  at  75  per  cent;  retail  merchants  at  25  per 
cent;  solicitors,  physicians,  etc.,  at  50  per  cent;  telegraph, 
telephone,  street-railway  companies  at  15  per  cent.  In  case 
the  income  of  an  individual  so  assessed  exceeds  the  assess- 
ment, he  is  liable  on  the  extent  to  which  such  income  exceeds 
the  amount  of  business  assessment. 

Among  the  interesting  features  of  the  taxing  system  is  the 


REVENUE   SYSTEMS  205 

system  of  rotation  in  assessment.  The  work  of  valuation 
is  begun  in  March,  and  carried  on  ward  by  ward  until  the  city 
is  covered,  in  September.  A  distinction  is  made,  in  assess- 
ment, between  improved  and  unimproved  property,  and  there 
is  now  on  foot  a  movement  to  exempt  improvements  up  to 
the  value  of  $700.  It  is  also  important  to  observe  that  the 
Toronto  assessment  is  made  in  advance  of  the  year  for  which 
the  levy  is  made.  This  makes  possible  the  collection  of  taxes 
during  the  current  fiscal  year  as  in  Philadelphia  and  St. 
Louis,  and  obviates'  the  necessity  for  borrowing  largely  in 
anticipation  of  incoming  taxes. 

Liquor  licenses  amounted  (in  1903)  to  about  $32,000,  at 
a  rate  of  $450.  Of  this  the  city  receives  approximately  $166, 
while  the  balance  goes  to  the  Province  of  Ontario.  The 
administration  of  this  license  is  in  the  fact  superintended  by 
provincial  officers,  independently  of  the  city.  The  number 
of  licenses  is  fixed  at  one  hundred  and  fifty  hotels  and  fifty 
shops,  and  the  policy  is  to  reduce  rather  than  to  increase  the 
number.  From  other  hcenses  about  $37,000  is  obtained, 
with  the  sums  obtained  on  account  of  milk  venders,  peddlers, 
expressmen,  and  cigarettes,  yielding  largest  returns. 

The  principal  municipal  industry  is  the  waterworks, 
which  pays  about  $400,000  a  year.  Rentals  of  city  property 
bring  in  about  $170,000  (including  certain  rentals  charged 
against  police  stations  and  other  departments);  about 
$25,000  is  obtained  from  the  city  markets.  The  Industrial 
Exposition  in  1903  netted  some  $31,000. 

In  public-service  privileges  the  leading  item  is  the  revenue 
obtained  from  the  street-railway  companies.  In  return  for 
a  thirty-year  franchise  the  city  receives  a  percentage  of  the 
gross  receipts  on  the  following  scale:  — 

Up  to  $1,000,000 8% 

From  $1,000,000  to  $1,500,000 10% 

From  $1,500,000  to  $2,000,000 12% 

From  $2,000,000  to  $3,000,000 15% 

Above  $3,000,000 20% 


206  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

In  addition  to  this,  the  city  receives  compensation  in  the 
shape  of  mileage  at  the  rate  of  $800  per  single-track  mile. 
The  amount  realized  from  street  railways  was,  in  1903, 
$279,000.  In  1904  this  was  increased  to  $323,000,  and  is 
estimated  for  1905  at  $345,000. 

Special  assessments  are  levied  for  the  ordinary  pm^poses, 
but  in  Toronto  such  taxes  may  also  be  made  for  the  purpose 
of  sweeping,  lighting,  and  watering  streets,  for  cutting  grass 
and  weeds,  and  for  removal  of  snow,  ice,  and  dirt.  A  con- 
siderable part  of  the  cost  of  local  improvements  is  borne  by 
the  city.  Thus,  in  1903,  the  cost  of  such  improvements 
was  about  $665,000,  of  which  $468,000  was  paid  by  the  prop- 
erty owners,  and  the  balance  by  the  city. 

The  indebtedness  of  the  city  is  about  $21,500,000^  from 
which  deduction  must  be  made  for  cash  and  sinking-fund. 
This  leaves  a  net  debt  (December  31,  1903)  of  $15,316,266. 
Estimating  the  population  at  200,000  in  1903,  the  per  capita 
debt  is  about  $75.  Of  this  debt  about  five  and  one-half 
millions  have  been  incurred  for  the  purpose  of  local 
improvements.^ 

Section  III.     Revenues  of  Foreign  Cities' 

Revenue-raising  Bodies  in  European  Cities. — Financial 
study  has  been  made  of  five  of  the  principal  large  cities  of 

*  See  Consolidated  Municipal  Act  of  1903;  Consolidated  By-Laws  of  the 
City  of  Toronto,  1904:;  City  Treasurer's  Annual  Report ;  Municipal  Hand- 
book of  the  City  of  Toronto;  The  Assessment  Act  (Ontario),  4  Edw.  VII, 
ch.  23  (1904). 

^  Bibliography.  —  British  Parliamentary  Papers ;  Annual  Local  Taxa- 
tion Returns  (England  and  Wales),  1902-1903;  Annual  Local  Taxation 
Returns  (Scotland,  1901-1902);  Annual  Reports  of  the  Accountant  for  Scot- 
land to  the  Scotch  Education  Department,  1901-1902,  1902-1903;  Revenue 
and  Expenditure  (England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland),  1902-1903;  Atkin- 
son, Local  Government  tn  Scotland,  chs.  15—17;  Oesterreichisches  Stadte- 
buch,  Vol.  X  (1904);  Die  Gemeinde-V erwaltung  der  Stadt  Wien  fiir  das 
Jahr  1902;  Statistisches  Jahrbuch  der  Stadt  Wien  fiir  das  Jahr  1902; 
Statistisches  Jahrbuch  der  autonomen  Landesverwaltung  (1904);  Oester- 
reichisches statistisches  Handbuch  (1903);    Oesterreichische  Statistik,  Vol. 


REVENUE   SYSTEMS  207 

Europe  —  London,  Paris,  Berlin,  Vienna,  and  Glasgow.  In 
order  to  present  data  covering  the  same  objects  of  expenditure, 
it  has  been  necessary  to  combine,  in  most  cases,  the  financial 
accounts  of  several  local  authorities  and  certain  items  from 
the  accounts  of  the  central  governments ;  and  as  the  accounts 
and  reports  of  the  various  countries  and  cities  are  on  very 
different  plans,  this  has  required  a  careful  rearrangement  of 
the  items  in  the  reports  so  as  to  group  substantially  similar 
facts  in  a  uniform  schedule. 

London  shows  the  greatest  multiplicity  in  the  number  of 
authorities  whose  accounts  must  be  considered,  —  more  than 
Chicago.  Moreover,  no  single  local  authority  occupies  even 
the  same  degree  of  relative  importance  that  the  city  corporate 
has  in  Chicago.  As  various  authorities  have  jurisdiction 
over  different  areas  and  population,  it  is  not  obvious  what 
district  to  include;  but  the  most  suitable  district  is  that 
known  as  the  administrative  county  of  London,  with  a 
population  of  4,560,000. 

Within  this  district  the  most  important  single  authority 
is  the  county  council,  a  popularly  elected  body.  This  has 
control  over  certain  large  municipal  works,  such  as  the  main 
drainage  system,  some  of  the  leading  thoroughfares,  most  of 
the  bridges  over  the  river  Thames,  and  the  principal  parks; 
and  also  has  charge  of  the  fire  brigade,  owns  and  operates 
street-railway  Hues,  and  exercises  some  specified  powers  of 
police  and  sanitary  control. 

At  the  present  time  the   London  county  council  is  also 

LXX  ("  Der  Oesterreichische  Staatshaushalt  in  1899  and  1900  ")•  Compte 
general  des  recettes  et  depenses  de  la  ville  de  Paris,  Exercice  1902;  Departe- 
ment  de  la  Seine:  Compte  des  recettes  et  des  depenses,  Exercice  1902; 
Budget  de  la  ville  de  Paris,  Exercice  1903  (tableaux  annexes) ;  Annuaire 
staiistique  de  la  ville  de  Paris  (1901);  Compte  general  de  l' administration 
des  finances  (R6publique  Franyaise,  1902);  Annuaire  statistique  de  la 
France  (1903).  Statistisches  Jahrbuch  der  Stadt  Berlin,  Vols.  XXVII, 
XXVIII;  Verwaltungsbericht  des  Magistrals  zu  Berlin  fiir  1902;  Ver- 
waUungsbericht  der  Koniglichen  Polizei-Prdsidium  zu  Berlin  (1891-1900) ; 
Statistisches  Handbuch  des  Preussischen  Stoat,  Vol.  IV;  R.  C.  Brooks  in 
Political  Science  Quarterly,  XX,  665. 


208  ESSAYS    IN    MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

the  local  educational  authority ;  but  for  the  years  represented 
in  the  financial  statements  there  was  a  specially  elected 
school  board,  an  independent  corporation  with  its  own 
taxing  powers. 

Most  of  the  administrative  county  and  a  large  area  beyond 
is  included  in  the  metropolitan  police  district.  The  police 
force  and  police  courts  are  directly  under  the  control  of 
a  commissioner,  appointed  by  the  central  government; 
but  a  large  part  of  the  expenses  of  this  force  are  collected 
by  local  taxes  or  rates.  For  the  purpose  of  this  study  only 
that  part  of  the  police  district  within  the  administrative 
county  has  been  included. 

Another  metropolitan  district  created  is  that  for  the  supply 
of  water,  which  also  includes  territory  beyond  the  county. 
This  function  is  now  under  the  control  of  a  water  board, 
composed  of  representatives  of  the  various  locally  elected 
authorities  within  the  district.  But  at  the  time  represented 
in  this  report  the  water  supply  for  the  metropolis  was  in  the 
hands  of  a  number  of  private  companies,  and  their  accounts 
are  not  included. 

Another  authority  in  the  county  of  London  is  the  metro- 
politan asylums  board,  consisting  mainly  of  representatives 
from  certain  locally  elected  authorities,  which  has  the  manage- 
ment of  public  hospitals,  including  those  for  the  indigent  sick 
and  those  for  infectious  diseases. 

Within  the  administrative  county  there  are  twenty-eight 
metropolitan  boroughs,  the  city  of  Westminster  and  the 
city  of  London,  each  with  its  own  elected  council  and  other 
officials.  These  control  many  municipal  public  works,  such 
as  street-paving,  lighting,  and  cleaning,  garbage  disposal, 
and  local  sewers.  Many  of  them  have  electric-light  plants, 
bath-houses,  and  public  libraries,  and  some  have  small  parks. 
The  city  of  London  (whose  -jurisdiction  covers  only  a  small 
part  of  the  county)  has  a  larger  range  of  functions  than  the 
metropolitan  boroughs,  including  a  police  force  and  several 
bridges  over  the  Thames. 


REVENUE   SYSTEMS  209 

Also  within  the  administrative  county  are  thirty  poor- 
law  unions,  each  with  an  elected  board  of  poor-law  guardians. 
These,  in  connection  with  the  metropolitan  asylums  board, 
control  the  administration  of  poor-relief. 

Finally  there  is  the  Thames  conservancy  board,  which  has 
control  over  navigation  and  boat  landings  on  the  river 
Thames;  but  this  does  not  include  the  docks  and  ware- 
houses for  sea  traffic,  which  are  owned  by  private  companies. 

In  addition  to  these  various  authorities,  there  must  be 
included  certain  expenses  of  the  imperial  government,  which 
correspond  to  items  of  local  expense  in  Chicago  and  other 
American  cities.  The  entire  cost  of  the  judicial  and  penal 
administration  is  borne  by  the  central  government;  and 
a  number  of  the  public  parks  and  museums  in  London  are 
owned  and  maintained  as  royal  parks.  Some  part  of  the 
expense  for  these  must  be  considered  as  an  additional  grant 
from  the  central  government  to  local  purposes.  The  appor- 
tionment to  London  of  the  total  expense  for  these  items  has 
had  to  be  made  approximately  on  a  somewhat  arbitrary  basis. 

In  the  case  of  the  continental  cities  the  number  of  local 
authorities  is  less,  and  the  task  of  forming  a  consolidated 
statement  is  less  difficult ;  but  even  for  these  there  is  usually 
more  than  one  local  budget  to  be  considered.  For  Paris 
there  are  two  main  divisions  in  the  administration  of  the  city, 
one  under  the  prefect  of  the  Seine  and  the  other  under  the 
prefect  of  the  police.  But  the  accounts  of  both  of  these  are 
presented  in  a  single  budget  and  financial  report.  To  these 
city  accounts,  however,  there  must  be  added  a  large  share  of 
the  financial  transactions  of  the  department  of  the  Seine. 
These  are  for  the  most  part  of  a  local  character;  and  as  Paris 
has  two-thirds  of  the  population  of  the  department,  they 
are  in  large  measure  part  of  the  local  administration  assign- 
able to  the  Paris  community. 

In  addition  to  these  local  accounts,  there  must  be  included 
some  expenses  of  the  national  government,  which  are  analo- 
gous to  local  expenditure  in  this  country.     The  national  grant 


210  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

toward  the  support  of  the  Paris  police  is  included  in  the  city- 
budget  ;  but  other  items  in  the  national  budget  not  appearing 
there  are  for  the  local  share  of  judicial  and  penal  administra- 
tion, and  for  the  support  of  various  educational  and  art 
institutions.  These  must  be  added  to  those  in  the  local  ac- 
counts to  make  a  fair  comparison  with  other  cities ;  although 
in  some  cases  only  an  approximate  estimate  can  be  made  of 
the  amount  assignable  to  Paris. 

In  Berlin  there  is  but  one  local  corporation  for  municipal 
purposes;  and  all  of  the  strictly  local  expenditures  are  ac- 
counted for  on  one  budget.  But  again,  as  in  Paris,  the 
central  state  government,  besides  contributing  small  grants 
to  the  municipal  treasury,  carries  on  under  its  direct  control 
certain  important  services  which  in  the  United  States  are 
branches  of  local  administration;  and  the  larger  share  of  the 
expenses  for  these  comes  from  the  state  treasury,  without 
appearing  in  the  municipal  budget.  These  services  include 
the  courts  and  correctional  institutions,  the  police  com- 
mission (which  controls  the  police  force,  fire  department, 
and  health  and  inspection  services),  the  public  schools,  and 
the  principal  public  parks.  For  any  fair  comparison  of  local 
finances  in  Berlin  and  Chicago,  it  is  therefore  necessary  to 
include  the  expenses  of  these  services  in  addition  to  the  items 
in  the  municipal  accounts.  The  expenses  of  the  Berlin  police 
commission  are  shown  separately  in  the  financial  reports  of 
Prussia.  But  for  the  other  services  an  apportionment  of  the 
total  expenditure  for  the  whole  country  must  be  made;  and 
here  a  rough  approximation  of  the  amount  chargeable  to  Berlin 
is  all  that  can  be  given. 

For  Vienna  the  local  accounts  to  be  considered  are  those  of 
the  city  corporation  and  those  of  the  province  of  Lower 
Austria.  The  latter,  as  in  the  case  of  the  department  of  the 
Seine  and  Paris,  carries  on  functions  which  are  for  the  most 
part  local  in  character;  and  as  Vienna  has  more  than  half 
the  population  of  the  province,  a  large  share  of  the  items  in 
the  provincial  accounts  are  assignable  to  the  city. 


REVENUE    SYSTEMS  211 

So,  too,  as  for  the  other  European  cities,  there  must  be 
taken  from  the  Austrian  central  government  accounts  some 
items  for  branches  of  administration  undertaken  in  the 
United  States  by  the  local  authorities.  This  is  less  important 
in  Vienna  than  in  Paris  or  Berlin,  but  some  part  of  the  ex- 
penses for  courts  and  prisons,  and  for  the  royal  parks,  in 
Vienna  are  clearly  for  the  benefit  of  the  city  community,  and 
this  can  be  at  least  roughly  apportioned. 

To  make  up  the  Glasgow  statistics  has  required  the  con- 
solidation of  the  reports  of  a  large  number  of  local  authorities, 
though  not  so  many  as  in  London.  If  the  areas  of  juris- 
diction of  different  authorities  were  coterminous,  it  would 
be  necessary  to  include  only  the  accounts  of  the  city,  the 
parish,  and  the  school  board  of  Glasgow.  But  as  the  parish 
boundaries  overlap  those  of  the  city,  it  has  been  found  most 
convenient  to  include  the  data  for  the  city  of  Glasgow  and 
three  small  adjacent  boroughs,  and  also  those  of  two  parishes 
and  four  school  boards,  covering  the  same  area  and  population. 
This  district,  with  a  population  of  912,000,  is  all  within  the 
Glasgow  urban  community. 

Comparison  of  Sources  of  Revenue.  —  From  the  revenue 
statement  it  appears  that  the  total  ordinary  revenue  per 
capita  for  each  of  these  European  cities  considered  is  larger 
than  that  for  Chicago.  But  this  is  in  part  a  result  of  the  larger 
gross  revenue  from  municipal  industries,  especially  in  Berlin 
and  Glasgow;  and  this  income  is  largely  offset  by  the  special 
expenses  of  these  undertakings.  For  general  revenue,  which 
is  a  better  basis  of  comparison,  the  per  capita  for  Chicago  is 
also  less  than  that  for  London  or  Paris;  but  larger  than  for 
the  other  three  cities.  This,  however,  does  not  take  into 
consideration  the  relatively  higher  purchasing  power  of  money 
in  Europe. 

Except  in  Glasgow,  the  most  important  source  of  revenue 
is  that  from  taxation.  This  yields  the  great  bulk  of  the 
general  revenue,  and  from  35  to  70  per  cent  of  the  total  ordi- 
nary revenue.    The  amount  of  taxes  per  capita  is,  like  the 


212  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

general  revenue,  higher  in  money  for  London  and  Paris  than 
for  Chicago;  and  while  less  in  Berlin,  Vienna,  and  Glasgow, 
the  difference  is  probably  smaller  than  the  difference  in  the 
value  of  property,  or  in  the  purchasing  power  of  money. 
The  methods  of  taxation  are,  however,  very  different  from 
those  in  America,  and  also  show  great  variety  between  the 
various  foreign  cities.  And  a  brief  analysis  of  the  taxing 
systems  will  be  suggestive  in  considering  changes  in  methods 
here. 

London  and  Glasgow  have  systems  of  direct  local  taxes 
which  are  very  similar  to  each  other;  but  this  British  system 
is  very  different  from  that  used  in  other  countries.  The 
direct  local  taxes  are  wholly  independent  and  distinct  from 
the  taxes  levied  by  or  for  the  central  government,  and  the 
differentiation  is  so  marked  that  the  term  "taxes"  is  not 
applied  to  the  local  contributions,  which  are  known  as  "rates" 
in  England  and  "  assessments  "  in  Scotland.  These  local  rates 
and  assessments  are  levied  on  real  estate  only,  including  land 
and  buildings :  and  the  basis  of  the  levy  in  both  countries  is^ 
not  the  capital  value  of  the  property,  but  the  annual  rental 
value.  Moreover,  the  local  rates  are  levied  largely  on  the 
tenants  or  occupiers,  instead  of  only  on  the  owners,  of  property. 
In  London,  however  (and  generally  in  England),  it  is  very 
often  arranged  in  the  leases  that  the  landlord  shall  pay  the 
occupiers'  rates,  and  the  rents  are  arranged  accordingly. 
This  is  known  as  "compounding"  the  rates.  In  Glasgow  and 
Scotland  there  is  little  or  no  compounding ;  but  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  assessments  are  levied  directly  against  the 
owners. 

While  there  is  only  one  system  of  valuation  and  assess- 
ment, there  are  a  great  number  of  distinct  rates  levied  for 
different  purposes.  Almost  every  one  of  the  many  local 
authorities  levies  a  separate  "rate,  and  in  some  cases  one  au- 
thority levies  several  rates.  Thus  there  are  separate  rates  for 
poor-relief,  schools,  borough  purposes,  and  sanitary  improve- 
ments ;  while  in  London  there  is  an  additional  county  rate. 


REVENUE   SYSTEMS  213 

A  somewhat  complicated  process  is  followed  in  making 
valuations.  There  is  first  determined  the  "gross  estimated 
rental,"  based  on  the  yearly  rent  paid  by  a  tenant  who  him- 
self pays  the  tithes  and  the  occupiers'  rates.  From  this  de- 
ductions are  made  to  cover  the  average  expenses  for  repairs, 
insurance,  and  renewals,  and  the  balance  is  the  "ratable 
value."  In  Glasgow,  however,  the  burgh  rates  are  levied  on 
the  gross  rental.  For  certain  purposes  and  certain  kinds  of 
property  rates  are  levied  only  on  a  fraction  of  the  full  ratable 
value.  Rates  for  police  and  street-lighting  are  levied  on 
lands  only  on  one-third  of  the  full  value;  and  rates  for  sani- 
tary and  other  municipal  improvements  are  based  only  on 
one-fourth  of  the  value  for  agricultural  land,  railroads,  docks, 
and  canals.  On  the  other  hand,  the  assessment  is  always 
based  on  the  value  of  the  property  for  the  purpose  in  use, 
so  that  the  "franchise  value"  of  railways,  gas-works,  and  the 
like  are  included. 

In  London  the  primary  valuations  are  made  by  the  coun- 
cils of  the  metropolitan  boroughs,  subject  to  review  by  assess- 
ment committees  and  appeal  to  the  courts.  There  are  some 
provisions  for  establishing  uniform  methods  throughout  the 
metropolis.  Complete  revaluations  are  required  by  statute 
every  five  years,  and  the  deductions  from  the  gross  rentals 
are  based  on  a  fixed  scale.  There  are  also  provisions  for 
equalizing  certain  rates  between  the  poorer  and  richer  dis- 
tricts. 

In  the  continental  cities  most  of  the  direct  taxes,  and  some- 
times part  of  the  indirect  taxes,  levied  by  the  local  authorities, 
are  in  the  form  of  additions  to  the  taxes  levied  by  the  central 
governments.  This  resembles  the  method  in  America  of 
adding  the  local  tax  rate  to  the  rate  levied  by  the  state  govern- 
ments ;  but  in  the  European  cities  the  taxes  for  the  central 
governments  are  the  larger  portion  of  the  whole,  although 
the  local  taxes  are  also  of  weight.  It  is  important  to  keep 
this  condition  in  mind  when  comparing  the  total  burden  of 
taxation  in  American  and  European  cities.    In  Chicago  the 


214  ESSAYS  IN   MUNiaPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

state  tax  does  not  amount  to  one-tenth  the  local  tax,  and  in 
other  cities  the  proportion  is  equally  small. 

In  Paris  the  direct  local  taxes  are  known  as  centimes  addi- 
tionels,  because  the  rate  is  measured  in  centimes  added  to  the 
rate  for  state  taxes.  There  are  four  separate  objects  of  this 
direct  taxation  —  lands  and  buildings,  personal  property, 
doors  and  windows,  and  business  trades. 

Indirect  taxes  still  form  a  slightly  larger  source  of  local 
revenue  in  Paris  than  the  direct  taxes,  and  are  of  much  more 
importance  in  Paris  than  in  other  French  cities.  These  in- 
direct taxes,  known  as  octrois,  are  an  elaborate  series  of 
local  customs  duties  levied  on  goods  entering  the  city.  The 
larger  part  of  the  revenue  comes  from  the  duties  on  wines, 
beers,  and  other  liquors;  meat  and  other  food  supplies 
are  also  taxed,  but  bread  is  admitted  free.  The  adminis- 
tration of  these  octrois  duties  at  the  city  gates  and  rail- 
road stations  is  very  expensive,  the  total  cost  amounting 
to  over  10  per  cent  of  the  amount  collected.  There  is 
much  complaint  about  them;  but  the  heavy  direct  taxes 
by  the  state  stand  in  the  way  of  increasing  these  so  as  to 
abolish  the  octrois. 

In  Berlin  most  of  the  local  taxes,  and  nearly  all  of  the  tax 
revenue,  may  be  classed  as  direct.  The  most  significant 
feature  is  the  tax  on  incomes,  levied  by  the  municipality  in 
addition  to  the  state  income  tax.  Although  the  Prussian 
government  ten  years  ago  abandoned  other  direct  taxes  for 
state  revenue,  with  a  view  to  segregating  the  state  and  local 
sources  of  revenue,  the  municipal  income  tax  still  furnishes 
nearly  half  of  the  municipal  tax  income  —  or  about  40  per 
cent,  if  the  special  assessments  are  included  as  direct  taxes. 
Next  in  importance  is  the  tax  on  real  estate,  which  yields 
about  two-thirds  as  much  as  the  municipal  income  tax. 
This  has  been  levied  on  the  basis  of  rentals,  as  in  England; 
but  a  change  to  the  system  of  capital  market  value  has  recently 
been  adopted,  so  as  to  reach  the  owners  of  unimproved  land. 
About  15  per  cent  of  the  tax  revenue  comes  from  business 


REVENUE   SYSTEMS  215 

or  trade  taxes,  which  include  a  small  amount  from  depart- 
ment stores,  and  still  less  ($75,000)  from  retail  liquor  dealers. 
Of  minor  importance  are  the  taxes  on  real-estate  transfers, 
brewers,  and  dogs,  which  may  be  considered  as  indirect  taxes. 
The  revenue  from  these  aU  together  is  less  than  5  per  cent  of 
the  total  tax  revenue. 

Vienna  also  secures  a  large  part  of  its  tax  revenue  from 
additions  to  the  taxes  of  the  central  government.  But  the 
taxes  in  force  are  different  from  those  in  Prussia  or  France. 
The  land  tax  is  insignificant,  and  the  most  important  direct 
state  taxes  used  for  local  revenues  are  the  tax  on  buildings 
and  the  inheritance  taxes.  In  addition  to  these,  the  city 
gets  a  large  revenue  (as  much  as  from  the  other  direct  taxes 
combined)  from  a  tax  on  rents,  apparently  similar  to  the 
British  local  taxes.  Vienna  also,  like  Paris,  makes  a  large 
use  of  indirect  taxes,  which  are  levied  mostly  on  liquors  and 
meats.  A  good  share  of  this  revenue  comes  as  an  addition 
to  the  state  excises  on  the  same  commodities;  but  some  dis- 
tinctly local  consumption  taxes  are  also  levied. 

A  considerable  part  of  the  funds  for  municipal  purposes 
in  the  European  cities  comes  from  the  central  governments. 
Part  of  this  is  in  the  form  of  grants  or  subventions  paid  into 
the  treasury  of  the  local  authorities,  part  is  in  the  form  of 
direct  support  of  institutions  which  in  this  country  are  often 
local  in  character.  In  Great  Britain  most  of  the  amounts 
shown  are  payments  to  local  authorities,  and  the  largest  part 
of  these  are  the  proceeds  of  certain  local  taxation  licenses, 
inheritance  taxes,  and  probate  duties  levied  and  collected 
by  the  central  government,  but  paid  over  in  whole  or  in  part 
to  the  local  authorities.  The  most  important  of  these  are 
excise  duties  on  liquors  and  certain  inheritance  taxes.  The 
proceeds  from  these  taxes  are  fixed  in  amount,  and  do  not 
increase  from  year  to  year.  There  are  also,  however,  some 
grants  from  other  funds  in  the  national  treasury  to  local 
authorities,  mostly  for  schools;  while  some  expenses  for 
national  courts,  prisons,  parks,  and  museums,  analogous  to 


216  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

American  local  expenditure,  have  also  been  included  as  equiv- 
alent to  additional  grants  from  the  central  government. 

In  the  continental  countries  most  of  the  revenue  for  local 
purposes  from  the  central  governments  are  expended  under 
its  immediate  control.  The  largest  amounts  are  for  the  police 
of  the  various  cities;  but  other  items  partly  assignable  to 
the  localities  are  those  for  courts,  prisons,  secondary  schools, 
art  and  other  museums,  and  parks.  There  are  also  some 
grants  or  subventions  to  the  local  treasuries  for  elementary 
schools,  and  occasionally  in  small  amounts  for  other  pur- 
poses. 

Revenue  from  public-service  franchises  are  most  striking 
in  the  case  of  Paris.  This  is  due  to  the  small  extent  of  mu- 
nicipal ownership  there,  as  compared  with  Berlin,  Vienna, 
and  Glasgow.  The  gas  company  alone  pays  the  city  of 
Paris  over  S3,000,000  a  year. 

Municipal-service  income  for  the  continental  cities  includes 
some  revenue  more  or  less  analogous  to  special  assessments 
in  the  United  States.  But  the  different  methods  employed 
and  the  different  purposes  make  it  impossible  to  separate 
exactly  the  amounts  corresponding  to  special  assessments. 
Most  of  the  revenue  included  under  special  assessments  for 
Berlin  is  from  a  rental  tax  for  the  maintenance  of  sewage 
works. 

Revenue  from  municipal  property  and  industries  varies 
necessarily  with  the  extent  of  municipalization.  In  propor- 
tion to  population,  Glasgow  stands  first,  Berlin  and  Vienna 
second,  with  Paris  and  London  farther  behind.  Glasgow 
has  municipal  tramways,  gas-works,  electric  lighting,  water- 
works, markets,  and  telephones;  and  more  than  half  of  the 
total  revenue  is  derived  from  these  sources.  Vienna  owns  all 
of  these  industries,  except  telephones,  but  has  not  operated 
the  street  railways.  It  also  has  municipal  abattoirs  and 
cemeteries.  Berlin  has  municipal  water-  and  gas-works, 
markets,  and  abattoirs.  Paris  has  only  municipal  water- 
works, markets,   abattoirs,    and   cemeteries.     London   has, 


REVENUE   SYSTEMS  217 

in  part,  municipal  electric  lighting,  cemeteries,  markets,  and 
street  railways;  while  the  waterworks  have  come  under 
public  control  since  the  year  covered  by  this  report. 

The  revenue  from  these  municipal  industries  is,  for  the  most 
part,  offset  by  the  special  expenses;  but  in  most  of  these 
cities  there  seems  to  be  an  appreciable  net  revenue,  which 
balances  the  smaller  receipts  from  public  privileges  in  the 
other  cities  as  compared  with  Paris. 

The  extraordinary  revenues  necessary  vary  largely  from 
year  to  year.  For  the  period  covered  in  the  tables  Vienna 
made  a  large  loan  of  $28,000,000,  mainly  for  the  purchase  of 
the  street-railway  system;  and  London  borrowed  large 
amounts  for  street  improvements. 

Comparison  of  Expenditures.  —  From  the  statement  of 
expenditures  it  is  seen,  not  only  that  the  total  ordinary  ex- 
penses of  these  European  cities  are  larger  per  capita  than 
those  of  all  the  public  authorities  in  Chicago,  but  also  that, 
except  in  the  case  of  Glasgow,  the  total  general  expenses 
(deducting  the  expenses  of  municipal  industries)  are  larger 
per  capita  than  for  Chicago.  When,  besides  the  actual  differ- 
ence in  money  spent,  there  is  considered  the  higher  rates  of 
wages,  salaries,  and  prices  generally  in  this  country,  it  be- 
comes evident  that  Chicago  cannot  expect  to  attain  the  stand- 
ard of  municipal  service  furnished  by  the  European  cities 
without  a  substantial  increase  in  the  expenditure  for  munici- 
pal purposes. 

Examining  the  various  items  of  expenditure,  there  are 
seen  to  be  wide  variation  in  some  lines  between  the  different 
European  cities;  and  in  some  branches  Chicago  spends  more 
proportionately;  notably  for  the  fire  department  and  public 
parks.  On  the  other  hand,  for  certain  objects  the  expendi- 
ture of  Chicago  is  unusually  low.  In  the  case  of  public 
charities,  this  is  probably  due  to  the  smaller  need  for  assistance 
in  this  country.  But,  in  view  of  the  inadequate  protection 
afforded  by  the  police  force  in  Chicago,  it  is  significant  to 
note  the  much  larger  expenditure  in  London,   Paris,   and 


218  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

Berlin.  So,  too,  the  expenditure  for  maintenance  and  care 
of  streets  and  sewers  is  markedly  more  in  most  of  these  cities 
than  in  Chicago.  The  apparent  exception  in  the  case  of 
street-lighting  expenditure  for  Berlin  and  Vienna  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  the  municipal  lighting  plants  in  these  cities  do 
not  keep  an  account  for  public  lighting,  as  is  the  case  in  Glas- 
gow. And  while  the  expenditure  for  street  and  sewer  con- 
struction in  Chicago  seems  large,  most  of  this  is  on  the 
drainage  canal,  and  the  outlay  for  street-paving  work  is 
comparatively  small. 

The  expenses  for  courts  assigned  to  Berlin  and  Vienna  is 
much  higher  than  for  the  other  European  or  the  American 
cities.  But  there  is  also  a  large  revenue  received  by  the 
courts  in  Berlin  and  Vienna,  which  meets  a  large  share  of  the 
expense.  It  seems  probable  that  the  public  accounts  in 
connection  with  the  German  and  Austrian  courts  include 
many  items  which  in  Great  Britain,  France,  and  the  United 
States  are  often  settled  privately  with  no  pubhc  record.  For 
example,  the  financial  reports  of  American  courts  show  no 
record  of  fees  paid  to  referees  or  masters  in  chancery,  or  of 
trust  funds  held  by  the  court  officials ;  while  it  is  likely  that, 
with  more  exact  methods  of  accounting  in  Germany  and 
Austria,  the  corresponding  financial  transactions  are  included 
in  the  official  books  of  account. 


XI 

MUNICIPAL  ELECTRIC  LIGHTING  IN  DETROIT* 

The  Detroit  municipal  electric  lighting  plant  was  inaugu- 
rated in  1895  and  has  now  been  in  operation  for  more  than 
a  decade.  Except  Chicago,  it  is  the  largest  municipal  plant 
in  this  country ;  and  the  results  of  ten  years'  experience  under 
a  municipal  system  as  compared  with  the  previous  system 
of  contract  lighting  should  be  of  wide  interest  and  value. 

A  brief  historical  sketch  of  electric  lighting  in  Detroit  under 
both  private  and  municipal  management  will  serve  to  intro- 
duce the  discussion  on  the  comparative  results  of  the  two 
systems.  Electric  lighting  was  first  introduced  in  Detroit  in 
1882;  the  following  year  an  experimental  contract  was  made 
by  the  city  for  lighting  two  of  the  principal  streets;  and  in 
1884  the  contract  for  the  entire  public  lighting  of  the  city 
was  awarded  to  the  electric  light  company.  Three  hundred 
arc  lamps  of  2000  candle  power  each  were  employed;  but 
in  place  of  single  lamps  at  frequent  intervals,  these  were 
grouped  in  seventy-two  towers  from  100  to  250  feet  in  height. 
For  these  the  city  paid  at  the  rate  of  $240  for  each  arc  lamp. 
Yearly  contracts  were  made  with  the  same  company  for  each 
of  the  next  five  years,  the  number  of  arc  lamps  increasing 
steadily  to  719  in  1890,  and  the  cost  per  lamp  falling  by 
stages  to  $191  in  the  same  year.  In  1890  another  company 
underbid  the  first  company,  and  a  three  years'  contract  was 
made  with  the  new  concern  at  approximately  $130  a  lamp. 
The  number  of  lamps  was  increased  at  once  to  over  one  thou- 

'  Revised  from  an  article  in  Municipal  Affairs,  IV,  606  (September, 
1900).     Data  brought  down  to  1905. 

219 


220 


ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 


sand,  and  by  1894  there  were  1279  arc  lamps  in  use  in  the 
public  streets.  A  large  number  of  single  lamps  were  now 
used  in  addition  to  the  tower  groups. 

In  the  spring  of  1893  proposals  for  a  new  contract  for  public 
lighting  were  invited.  The  only  bid  received  was  from  the 
company  then  lighting  the  city,  which  submitted  a  schedule 
of  rates  varying  from  $155.73  per  lamp  for  a  one-year  con- 
tract, to  $124.10  for  a  three-year  contract,  and  $102.20  for 
a  ten-year  contract.  The  project  for  a  municipal  lighting 
plant  was  already  under  serious  consideration;  and  on  the 
recommendation  of  the  comptroller,  the  proposal  was  rejected 
by  the  common  council  on  March  14.  Afterwards  the  public 
lighting  commission  made  arrangements  with  the  company 
to  continue  its  lights  pending  the  introduction  of  the  munici- 
pal plant  at  a  sum  which  averaged  about  $132  per  arc  lamp.* 

Agitation  for  municipal  lighting  had  been  begun  as  early  as 
January,  1890,  by  Mayor  H.  S.  Pingree  in  his  first  message 
to  the  common  council.  In  each  of  his  subsequent  annual 
messages  in  1891,  1892,  and  1893,  the  mayor  again  urged  the 
building  of  a  municipal  plant,  and  presented  data  and  argu- 
ments in  support  of  this  project.  In  1893  a  bill  authorizing 
the  city  to  establish  municipal  lighting  was  introduced  in  the 

*  STATISTICS   OP    PUBLIC    LIGHTING   IN    DETROIT  BY    PRIVATE   COMPANIES 


Year  endinq  June  30 

No.  OP  Lamps 

Amount  Paid 

Cost  per  Lamp 

1884 

24 

$  3,649.53 

$152.07 

1885 

300 

71,982.00 

239.94 

1886 

382 

91,570.97 

239.71 

1887 

565 

115,490.26 

204.41 

1888 

608 

117,370.18 

193.04 

1889 

702 

128,068.78 

182.42 

1890 

719 

137,937.30 

191.84 

1891 

1031 

133,716.55 

129.69 

1892 

1168 

152,282.70 

130.38 

1893 

1279 

164,830.91 

128.87 

1894 

1279 

169,360.35 

132.41 

1895 

153,004.36 

1896 

28,796.41 

MUNICIPAL   ELECTRIC    LIGHTING   IN   DETROIT  221 

state  legislature,  which  was  passed  and  became  law  March  18. 
April  3,  under  the  provisions  of  the  act,  the  question  was  sub- 
mitted to  the  electors  of  the  city,  who  voted  15,282  to  1245 
in  favor  of  a  municipal  plant.  A  public-lighting  commission 
of  six  members  was  at  once  appointed,  and  bonds  to  the 
amount  of  $600,000  authorized,  and  in  time  sold,  to  defray 
the  cost  of  erecting  the  new  plant.  A  convenient  site  on  the 
river  front  was  selected  for  the  central  station,  a  neat  but 
not  extravagant  building  constructed,  and  the  necessary  equip- 
ment of  machinery  installed.  An  underground  (conduit) 
system  of  distribution  was  built  for  the  district  within  a  half 
mile  of  the  city  hall,  and  beyond  that  the  system  of  overhead 
wires  was  continued. 

April  1,  1895,  the  commission  began  operating  that  portion 
of  the  new  system  in  the  district  covered  by  the  underground 
conduits.  Extensions  of  the  service  were  made  rapidly 
during  the  following  months,  and  by  October  the  entire 
public  lighting  was  furnished  by  the  municipal  plant.  There 
was  at  that  time  1470  arc  lamps,  mainly  employed  in  street 
lighting,  and  2456  incandescent  lamps  in  the  different  mu- 
nicipal buildings.  The  system  has  continued  to  extend  until 
on  June  30,  1905,  there  were  3005  arc  lamps  and  14,696 
incandescent  lamps  in  the  municipal  system  of  lighting. 
Some  arc  lamps  are  still  grouped  on  towers,  but  the  greater 
number  are  now  distributed  in  single  locations. 

As  a  basis  for  comparison  and  discussion,  the  following 
tables  showing  the  cost  of  lighting  are  presented  from  the 
reports  of  the  public  lighting  commission.  They  include  in 
the  cost  not  only  the  operating  expenses  of  the  plant,  but 
charges  for  interest  on  the  investment,  for  annual  deprecia- 
tion of  the  plant,  and  for  municipal  taxes  which  would  be 
collected  were  the  plant  owned  by  a  private  corporation. 
The  items  for  operating  expenses  and  interest  on  the  invest- 
ment present  no  difficult  problems.  The  charge  for  lost 
taxes  is  estimated  by  charging  the  regular  rate  of  taxation 
for  city,  county,  and  state  purposes  on  a  valuation  assessed 


222  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

on  the  same  basis  as  other  similar  plants  in  the  city;  the 
assessed  value  of  the  municipal  plant  being  about  one-half 
of  the  net  investment.  The  charge  for  depreciation  is  made 
on  the  net  investment  at  the  rate  of  three  per  cent,  plus  the 
cost  of  discarded  machinery.  The  amounts  charged  for  these 
two  items  seem  to  be  reasonably  adequate. 

In  some  respects  the  figures  given  below  vary  from  the 
statements  in  the  reports  of  the  commission.  For  the  first 
two  years,  no  attempt  was  made  to  include  the  items  outside 
of  operating  expenses  necessary  to  calculate  the  annual  cost 
of  the  plant;  and  in  1897  the  commission  argued  that  the 
only  item  of  depreciation  that  should  be  considered  was  on 
the  cost  of  the  boilers,  as  the  rest  of  the  plant  was  maintained 
in  perfect  condition  by  expenditures  for  repairs.  But  in 
the  later  reports  the  items  of  interest,  depreciation,  and  lost 
taxes  have  been  considered  as  shown;  and  the  corresponding 
data  for  1896  and  1897  have  been  compiled  by  the  writer  on 
the  same  basis  as  the  figures  of  the  commission  for  subse- 
quent years. 

Again  in  their  later  reports,  after  estimating  the  cost  in 
the  same  form  and  with  almost  precisely  the  same  results  as 
in  the  table  below,  the  commission  presents  a  supplementary 
statement  of  items  amounting  to  $10,000  which  would  reduce 
still  further  the  total  cost.  At  least  some  of  these  items 
might  in  fairness  be  deducted.  The  work  of  the  commission 
has  absorbed  the  former  municipal  supervision  over  private 
lighting  companies,  and  their  expenses  thus  include  a  certain 
amount  chargeable  to  the  general  expenses  of  the  city.  The 
department  also  collects  various  sums  of  money  for  rentals 
and  sale  of  old  materials,  which  reduce  the  net  expenses,  but 
are  not  deducted  from  the  total  operating  expenses.  These 
items,  however,  have  not  been  deducted  in  this  paper,  be- 
cause they  are  not  given  for  the  years  before  1900,  and  it 
seems  better  to  present  all  the  figures  on  the  same  basis. 
The  effect  of  this  is  equivalent  to  increasing  the  allowance 
for  depreciation. 


MUNICIPAL   ELECTRIC    LIGHTING   IN   DETROIT 


223 


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224  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

The  first  and  clearest  deduction  from  these  figures  is  that 
the  municipal  plant  has  furnished  public  lighting  to  Detroit 
for  a  much  smaller  expenditure  than  would  have  been  re- 
quired under  any  alternative  presented  in  the  bid  of  the  pri- 
vate company  in  1893.  The  lowest  rate  proposed  by  the 
private  company  was  $102.20  per  arc  lamp  for  a  ten-year 
contract.  The  municipal  plant  furnished  fights  at  appre- 
ciably less  than  this  figure  from  the  outset;  and  the  cost 
has  fallen  steadily  until  for  the  past  five  years  it  has  been 
less  than  two-thirds  of  the  minimum  price  demanded  by  the 
company.  The  direct  financial  results  have  thus  fully  jus- 
tified the  city  of  Detroit  in  establishing  a  municipal  system 
of  electric  lighting. 

If,  however,  it  is  urged  that  the  depreciation  allowances 
are  not  sufficient,  it  can  still  be  demonstrated  beyond  question 
that  the  first  decade  of  municipal  lighting  was  a  financial  suc- 
cess for  Detroit.  In  the  whole  period  of  ten  years  there  was 
expended  for  the  plant  and  improvements  $1,112,455,  and  for 
operating  expenses  $1,059,996,  —  a  gross  total  expenditure  of 
$2,172,451.  If  it  should  be  assumed  that  in  1905  the  plant  was 
entirely  useless  and  its  value  wiped  out,  the  total  cost  of  light- 
ing for  the  decade  was  $87.63  per  arc  light  per  year,  as  com- 
pared with  the  lowest  contract  offered  in  1895  of  $102.20. 
On  this  basis  the  city  had  saved  $460,000  in  the  ten  years. 

Moreover,  other  beneficial  results  have  followed  from  the 
new  system.  The  rapid  extension  in  the  number  of  lights 
may  be  ascribed  to  the  reduction  in  cost,  which  has  allowed 
a  smaller  total  expenditure  to  provide  a  large  increase  in 
the  amount  of  lighting.  But  along  with  the  increase  in 
number  of  lamps,  there  has  gone  a  noticeable  improvement 
in  the  quality  of  the  service,  as  indicated  by  the  great  decrease 
in  number  of  lamps  reported  out  by  the  police.  In  1893^, 
under  the  contract  system,  the  total  number  of  lamp-hours 
reported  out  was  86,426;  since  the  municipal  works  have 
been  in  full  operation,  the  largest  number  of  lamp-hours 
out  in  one  year  has  been  7465. 


MUNICIPAL   ELECTRIC    LIGHTING   IN    DETROIT  225 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  conclusions  thus  far 
reached  offer  any  basis  for  a  generalization  in  favor  of  mu- 
nicipal lighting.  The  only  fact  shown  is  that  Detroit  has  in 
the  ten  years  secured  better  and  cheaper  lighting  under  its 
municipal  system  than  could  have  been  secured  by  a  contract 
made  in  1893.  May  it  not  be,  however,  that  these  results 
have  been  gained  through  improvements  in  electric  lighting 
since  1893  which  are  not  likely  to  be  duplicated;  so  that 
while  compared  with  the  alternative  of  1893  Detroit  has 
gained,  a  private  company  might  now  offer  lower  prices  than 
the  city  is  paying.  A  decisive  answer  to  this  query  is  not 
easy  to  find.  But  it  is  possible  to  obtain  some  light  on  the 
subject  by  comparing  the  cost  of  Detroit  lighting  with  the 
prices  charged  by  private  companies  for  public  lighting  in 
other  cities.  There  is  an  abundant  supply  of  material  for 
making  such  a  comparison  in  the  report  of  the  Commissioner 
of  Labor  on  Water,  Gas^  and  Electric  Lighting  Plants  pub- 
lished in  1899.  The  statistics  given  in  this  report  are  for 
various  dates  from  1897  to  1899;  and  the  Detroit  report  for 
the  year  ending  June  30,  1898,  will  correspond  most  nearly 
to  these  varying  dates. 

For  the  year  1897-8,  the  cost  of  the  Detroit  municipal 
plant  was  at  the  rate  of  $83.46  for  each  arc  lamp  for  3786 
hours  in  the  year,  or  $.049  per  kilowatt  hour.  An  examina- 
tion of  the  summary  tables  in  the  Labor  Commissioners' 
report  shows  that  no  group  of  private  companies  charged 
for  public  lighting  less  than  $.0514  per  kilowatt  hour;  and 
that,  when  the  hours  of  service  are  considered,  no  group 
charged  so  low  a  price  per  arc  lamp  as  the  cost  in  Detroit. 
From  the  detailed  tables  showing  the  statistics  for  each  plant, 
the  following  table  has  been  compiled  including  all  the  pri- 
vate plants  reported  which  furnished  500  or  more  arc  lamps 
for  public  lighting:  — 


226 


ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 


STATISTICS  OF  PUBLIC  LIGHTING   BY   PRIVATE 
CORPORATIONS 


Number  op 

Price  per 

Price  per 

Total 

Plant 

PubijIC  Arc 

Hours  of 

Lamp 

Kilowatt 

Investment  in 

NUMBEB 

Lamps 

Service 

PER  Year 

Hour' 

Plant 

889 

860 

4000 

$147.93 

$.0800 

$609,129 

893 

513 

3900 

100.00 

.0838 

473,621 

915 

916 

2216 

74.50 

.0731 

450,000 

918 

1243 

3988 

120.34 

.0631 

664,267 

922 

984 

3988 

91.25 

.0416 

1,752,552 

924 

538 

4000 

138.70 

.0771 

875,335 

925 

510 

4650 

146.00 

.0654 

1,591,801 

931 

1173 

3000 

85.00 

.0630 

800,847 

932 

626 

3960 

85.00 

.0477 

1,170,859 

933 

1279 

4000 

91.25 

.0507 

1,250,000 

934 

860 

3953 

104.84 

.0479 

2,600,000 

935 

674 

3878 

75.00 

.0569 

836,157 

936 

2500 

4000 

100.00 

.0500 

1,975,000 

937 

927 

3888 

93.24 

.0500 

2,107,660 

939 

800 

2685 

103.00 

.0833 

1,341,100 

940 

958 

3966 

100.38 

.0634 

1,845,569 

941 

1390 

4000 

127.50 

.0708 

4,157,354 

942 

830 

4000 

116.27 

.0781 

850,000 

943 

702 

3855 

102.70 

.0595 

1,475,000 

944 

3647 

4000 

97.97 

.0500 

2,040,000 

947 

652 

3210 

176.55 

.1273 

2,773,904 

948 

2276 

3940 

127.31 

.0630 

3,145,541 

949 

1216 

4000 

86.09 

.0476 

2,683,875 

951 

2072 

4000 

96.00 

.0505 

1,961,551 

It  will  be  noticed  that  four  of  the  twenty-four  plants  fur- 
nished lights  at  lower  prices  per  kilowatt  hour  than  the  cost 
in  Detroit  for  1898,  and  that  five  others  furnished  lights  at 
prices  but  slightly  in  excess;  while  in  the  remaining  thirteen 
cases  the  prices  are  distinctly  higher  than  the  cost  in  Detroit. 

*  It  should  be  noted  that  the  figures  of  cost  given  in  Tables  10  and  11 
of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor's  Report  for  municipal  plants  cannot  be 
compared  with  the  prices  charged  by  private  companies,  given  in  the 
same  tables.  The  cost  for  municipal  plants  does  not  include  estimates 
for  lost  taxes  or  interest  (see  p.  549  of  Report);  and  in  some  cases  no 
adequate  charge  is  made  for  depreciation.  The  estimated  charges  for 
lost  taxes  and  interest  are  presented  in  Table  8;  and  it  is  difficult  to 
understand  why,  with  this  data  at  "hand,  the  serious  error  should  have 
been  made  of  leaving  it  out  of  consideration  in  computing  the  cost  per 
arc  light  and  per  kilowatt  hour. 

Note  in  above  table  that  the  private  plants  with  lowest  prices  are 
all  plants  with  much  larger  investment  than  the  Detroit  plant. 


MUNICIPAL   ELECTRIC    LIGHTING  IN    DETROIT  227 

These  facts  indicate  that  the  city  of  Detroit  has  secured  its 
public  lighting  through  its  municipal  plant  not  only  for  much 
less  than  could  have  been  obtained  by  contract  in  1893,  but 
also  on  terms  which  compare  favorably  with  the  lowest 
prices  charged  by  private  companies  in  other  cities.  It  can- 
not be  claimed,  however,  that  the  Detroit  municipal  rate 
shows  any  large  advantage  over  the  lowest  private  rates, 
while  in  one  city  a  private  company  furnishes  public  lights 
at  a  price  one-sixth  lower  than  the  Detroit  lights  cost.  It 
should  be  remembered  that  the  private  companies  have  an 
important  advantage  in  supplying  electricity  to  private  con- 
sumers within  the  same  area  as  the  public  lighting,  thus 
securing  the  economies  of  manufacture  and  distribution  on 
a  larger  scale.  If  the  Detroit  municipal  plant  supplied  the 
private  demand,  undoubtedly  the  cost  of  city  lighting  would 
be  stiU  further  reduced.  But  viewing  the  existing  situation, 
the  fact  of  some  private  rates  lower  than  the  Detroit  munici- 
pal rate  must  be  recognized. 

This  comparison  has  been  made  on  the  basis  of  the  cost  of 
Detroit  lighting  for  1898.  If  the  striking  reductions  in  the 
Detroit  figures  since  that  time  have  been  in  large  measure 
confined  to  this  city,  the  cost  of  lighting  has  been  reduced 
below  the  price  charged  by  any  private  company  in  the  above 
table,  and  the  success  of  the  municipal  plant  is  strongly  em- 
phasized. It  is  probable,  however,  that  at  least  some  im- 
portant reductions  have  been  made  at  the  same  time  in  the 
cost  and  price  of  public  lighting  in  other  cities;  and  in  the 
absence  of  definite  data  of  recent  date,  for  any  large  number 
of  cities,  it  is  not  possible  to  make  accurate  deductions  as  to 
the  comparative  significance  of  the  cost  of  Detroit  lighting 
for  recent  years.  It  may  be  noted,  however,  that  as  late  as 
1902  the  city  of  Buffalo  secured  a  reduction  in  the  price  of 
light  to  $75  or  20  per  cent  more  than  the  total  estimated 
cost  in  Detroit,  although  the  Niagara  Falls  power  should 
make  the  cost  much  less  at  Buffalo. 

The  entire  responsibility  for  the  management  of  the  Detroit 


228  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

lighting  plant  rests  with  the  public  lighting  commission ;  and 
this  paper  would  be  incomplete  without  noting  the  character 
and  methods  of  the  commission,  which  have  been  essential 
factors  in  the  success  of  the  municipal  plant.  The  com- 
mission consists  of  six  members  appointed  by  the  mayor  of 
the  city  with  the  consent  of  the  council.  These  serve  without 
salary  for  six-year  terms,  one  member  retiring  each  year. 
This  organization  offers  certain  advantages.  The  gradual 
renewal  of  the  membership  serves  to  insure  a  continuous 
tradition  and  a  steady  policy  in  the  management,  while  the 
absence  of  salary  probably  lessens  the  pressure  of  profes- 
sional place  hunters  for  appointments.  But  it  is  not  every- 
where an  easy  matter  to  find  efficient  commissioners  for  such 
boards;  and  the  Detroit  experiment  has  been  highly  favored 
in  securing  as  members  of  the  commission  active  business 
men  who  have  been  both  able  and  willing  to  devote  a  large 
amount  of  time  to  this  work.  The  character  of  the  members 
can  best  be  illustrated  by  the  methods  adopted. 

In  the  first  place,  the  commissioners  take  an  active  per- 
sonal part  in  the  management.  During  recent  years  the 
work  of  making  purchases  and  contracts  for  supplies  has 
been  performed  directly  by  committees  of  the  board;  and 
the  savings  made  by  this  system  account  in  large  part  for  the 
reduction  in  operating  expenses  during  these  years.  In  the 
second  place,  the  other  expenditures  have  been  throughout 
on  a  conservative  and  business  basis.  No  expensive  build- 
ings have  been  constructed,  and  no  extravagant  salaries  are 
paid.  The  general  superintendent  receives  $2000  a  year, 
two  other  oflScers  have  $1200  a  year,  and  no  others  over 
$1000  a  year.  Yet  the  wages  of  the  men  are  as  high  as  in  any 
business  concern,  and  the  eight-hour  day  is  in  force.  In  the 
third  place,  the  tenure  of  positions  is  dependent  solely  upon 
efficiency,  and  a  system  of  promotion  in  service  according 
to  merit  and  fitness  for  the  work  is  employed. 

In  brief,  this  honorary  commission  manages  the  municipal 
lighting  plant  precisely  as  a  board  of  directors  would  conduct 


MUNICIPAL   ELECTRIC    LIGHTING    IN   DETROIT  229 

the  affairs  of  a  well-managed  private  corporation.  Directors 
usually  have  a  large  pecuniary  interest  in  the  corporations, 
which  explains  their  active  work  for  its  financial  success. 
Unsalaried  boards  of  managers  have,  however,  proven  effec- 
tive in  the  administration  of  educational  and  charitable 
institutions,  both  public  and  private,  mainly  on  account  of 
the  philanthropic  interest  attached  to  the  work.  In  our 
national  administration,  too,  the  dignity  of  a  position  in  the 
President's  cabinet  secures  for  the  direction  of  the  army, 
navy,  and  post-office,  men  whose  services  command  in  the 
business  world  many  times  the  salary  they  receive  from  the 
government.  A  city  which  finds  men  willing  to  perform 
similar  honorary  service  in  the  administration  of  a  purely 
economic  function  has  certainly  made  long  strides  toward 
the  realization  of  municipal  ideals. 


XII 

THE  STREET  RAILWAY  QUESTION  IN  CHICAGO* 

On  April  2, 1907,  the  people  of  Chicago,  by  a  decisive  vote, 
agreed  to  certain  ordinances  which  mark  a  turning-point 
in  the  street  railway  history  of  that  city,  and  provide  at 
least  a  temporary  settlement  to  a  controversy  that  dates 
back  for  more  than  forty  years,  and  has  been  actively  con- 
tested for  the  past  decade.  The  story  of  this  long-con- 
tinued struggle  is  important,  not  only  because  Chicago  is  the 
second  largest  city  in  the  country,  but  also  as  part  of  the 
larger  contest  that  is  being  carried  on,  more  or  less  openly, 
in  most  of  our  American  cities.  And  the  arrangements  in 
these  Chicago  ordinances  set  a  new  standard  in  the  relations 
between  street  railway  companies  and  public  authorities 
that  will  have  an  effect  throughout  the  United  States. 

In  relating  this  story,  it  will  be  necessary,  in  order  to  under- 
stand some  of  the  most  recent  events,  to  begin  with  the 
earliest  street  railways  in  Chicago.  But  the  early  history 
and  the  first  stages  of  the  more  active  contest  will  be  dis- 
cussed briefly.  The  greater  part  of  this  paper  will  deal  with 
the  events  of  the  past  ten  years,  and  more  particularly  with 
the  final  steps  and  the  terms  of  the  settlement  that  has  been 
made.  The  contest  has  important  political  aspects;  and  to 
some  these  have  seemed  more  important  than  the  trans- 
portation problems.  But  in  this  account,  while  some  at- 
tention will  be  given  to  the  political  bearings,  the  emphasis 
will  be  laid  on  the  legal,  economic,  and  administrative  features. 


The  earliest   attempts  to  furnish  cheap  local  transporta- 
tion in  Chicago,  as  in  other  cities,  was  by  means  of  omni- 

*  Reprinted   from   the    Quarterly  Journal   of  Economics,   XXI,   371 
(May,  1907). 

230 


THE   STREET  RAILWAY   QUESTION   IN    CHICAGO  231 

buses  operating  on  regular  lines  of  travel.  The  first  omnibus 
line  of  which  there  is  any  record  was  established  in  1850, 
when  the  city  had  a  population  of  28,000,  and  ran  from  the 
business  centre  to  Lincoln  Park.  Other  lines  were  established 
in  the  years  following;  and  by  1855  there  were  all  together 
ten  omnibus  lines  in  operation,  covering  an  aggregate  dis- 
tance of  18^  miles.  At  first  each  line  was  begun  by  different 
managers;  but  in  1855  the  operation  of  several  fines  was 
consolidated  under  the  management  of  Franklin  Parmalee 
&  Co.  For  a  few  years  more  the  omnibus  traffic  con- 
tinued to  develop;  but  with  the  opening  of  street  rail- 
ways it  rapidly  declined.  By  1861  only  two  omnibus  lines 
were  in  operation;  and  by  1865  all  had  been  discontinued.* 
More  recently  a  few  new  omnibus  lines  have  been  established, 
but  these  form  a  negligible  factor  in  the  means  of  passenger 
transportation  in  the  city  of  Chicago. 

A  local  student  has  discovered  a  newspaper  notice  of  a  local 
grant  authorizing  the  construction  of  a  street  railway  in 
Chicago  as  early  as  1854.  And  there  is  official  record  of  a 
council  ordinance  of  1856,  granting  a  street  railway  franchise. 
But  no  action  was  taken  on  either  of  these ;  and  the  latter  was 
forfeited  by  the  failure  to  secure  the  required  consent  of  the 
owners  of  adjacent  property.  The  first  effective  ordinance 
for  the  construction  and  operation  of  street  railways  in 
Chicago  was  passed  by  the  city  council,  August  16,  1858. 
As  the  terms  of  this  ordinance  were  involved  in  the  recent 
litigation  and  settlement,  it  is  of  especial  importance  to  under- 
stand its  contents  and  significance.  It  authorized  a  group 
of  individuals  —  including  Franklin  Parmalee,  the  head  of 
the  partnership  then  operating  the  principal  omnibus  lines 
—  to  construct  railway  tracks  on  certain  streets  on  the  south 
and  west  of  the  Chicago  River,  and  to  operate  cars  thereon 
"with  animal  power  only"  for  a  period  of  twenty-five  years, 
and  until  the  city  should  "elect  to  purchase"  the  plant  and 

*  George  B.  Goodwin,  Chicago  Street  Railways.  A  manuscript  essay 
in  the  possession  of  Professor  J.  H.  Gray,  of  Northwestern  University. 


232  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

equipment.  A  maximum  fare  of  five  cents  was  specified; 
and  the  grantees  were  to  pay  one-third  of  the  cost  of  grading 
and  paving  streets.  The  council  reserved  the  right  to  regu- 
late the  rate  of  speed  and  the  time  of  running  cars.  Under 
this  ordinance  tracks  were  laid,  and  the  first  line  opened  in 
April,  1859. 

Meanwhile  a  question  had  been  raised  as  to  the  legal 
authority  of  the  city  council  to  grant  such  a  franchise.  To 
settle  these  doubts  and  to  incorporate  the  grantees,  a  special 
act  of  the  Illinois  legislature  was  passed  on  February  16, 
1859,  incorporating  the  grantees  under  the  city  ordinance 
as  the  Chicago  City  Railway  Company,  for  a  period  of  twenty- 
five  years,  and  authorizing  the  construction  and  operation 
of  street  railways  upon  terms  and  conditions  provided  by 
the  common  council.  Authority  was  also  given  to  extend 
the  lines  to  any  part  of  Cook  County,  by  the  exercise  of  the 
power  of  eminent  domain,  or  with  the  assent  of  the  super- 
visor of  any  township  for  laying  tracks  in  the  highways. 
The  same  powers  were  granted  to  another  group  of  individuals 
as  the  North  Chicago  City  Railway  Company,  for  the  north 
division  of  the  city  and  county. 

On  May  23,  1859,  the  council  passed  ordinances  granting 
rights  in  important  streets  to  both  of  these  companies.  The 
ordinance  to  the  Chicago  City  Railway  Company  was,  in 
substance,  a  reaffirmation  of  the  ordinance  of  1858,  on  the 
basis  of  the  act  of  the  legislature.  The  ordinance  to  the 
North  Chicago  City  Railway  Company  for  the  first  time  gave 
that  company  rights  in  specified  streets,  and  differed  from 
the  ordinance  of  1858  in  limiting  the  grant  to  the  term  of 
twenty-five  years  "and  no  longer." 

On  February  21,  1861,  the  Illinois  legislature  passed  an 
act  which  incorporated  the  Chicago  West  Division  Railway 
Company,  with  the  same  powers  as  the  two  previously  estab- 
lished companies,  but  required  the  consent  of  the  North 
Chicago  Company  before  the  construction  of  any  tracks  in 
the  north  division,  and  authorized  the  new  company   to 


THE   STREET  RAILWAY   QUESTION   IN   CHICAGO  233 

acquire  any  of  the  rights  of  the  City  Railway  Company. 
In  the  summer  of  1863  the  City  Railway  Company  trans- 
ferred to  the  West  Division  Company  control  over  its  lines  in 
the  west  division  of  the  city. 

These  measures,  which  form  the  first  stage  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  street  railway  system  of  Chicago,  have  been 
held  by  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  to  have  established 
clearly  the  policy  of  municipal  control,  and  in  particular  to 
recognize  the  right  of  the  city  to  fix  the  term  during  which 
the  streets  might  be  occupied  by  street  railway  companies. 

That  it  was  the  intention  of  the  legislature  to  give  effect  to  the  right 
of  municipal  control  in  the  act  under  consideration  [that  of  1859]  is 
shown  in  its  confirmation  of  terms  already  fixed  by  contract  between 
the  city  and  the  companies.  As  to  the  future,  companies  were  to  have 
no  right  to  the  use  and  occupancy  of  the  streets  until  they  should 
obtain  from  the  city  council  authority  to  that  end,  under  contracts  to 
be  agreed  upon  as  to  terms  and  conditions.  A  more  comprehensive 
plan  of  securing  the  city  in  the  control  of  the  use  of  the  streets  for 
railway  purposes  could  hardly  be  devised. 

It  thus  clearly  appears,  at  least  up  to  the  passage  of  the  act  of  1865, 
that  legislation  upon  the  subject  recognized  and  enforced  the  right  and 
authority  of  the  city  to  fix  the  term  during  which  the  streets  might 
be  occupied  by  street  railway  companies.  The  legislature  had  con- 
firmed the  ordinance  of  the  city  fixing  the  term  at  twenty-five  years 
and  until  the  city  should  see  fit  to  purchase  the  property  of  the  railway 
company.  It  had  required  the  companies  to  obtain  the  authority  of 
the  city  before  using  the  streets,  such  use  to  be  upon  terms  and  con- 
ditions, and  with  such  rights  and  privileges  as  the  city  had  or  might 
thereafter  prescribe  by  contract  with  the  companies.' 

From  time  to  time  the  council  passed  other  ordinances 
authorizing  new  lines  of  railway  tracks  and  making  minor 
changes  in  previous  grants.  In  most  cases  these  ordinances 
contained  a  definite  time  hmit.  Under  them  additional 
lines  were  built ;  and  by  1865  there  were  forty  miles  of  street 
railways  in  the  city. 

In  that  year  another  act  dealing  with  horse  railways  in 

»  Blair  v.  Chicago,  201  U.S.  400. 


234  ESSAYS   IN    MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

Chicago  was  passed  by  the  legislature,  which  vitally  affected 
the  situation,  laid  the  basis  for  the  extreme  claims  of  the 
companies  in  the  recent  litigation,  and  more  than  anything 
else  has  been  responsible  for  the  long  agitation  in  reference 
to  street  railways  in  that  city.  This  act,  passed  on  Febru- 
ary 6, 1865,  was  amendatory  of  the  previous  acts  of  1859  and 
1861.  It  clearly  extended  the  corporate  lives  of  the  com- 
panies to  a  period  of  ninety-nine  years  from  the  dates  of  the 
original  acts.  It  also  added,  to  the  section  authorizing  the 
construction  and  operation  of  railways  on  the  terms  pro- 
vided by  the  council,  the  following  confused  and  ambiguous 
clause :  — 

and  any  and  all  acts  or  deeds  of  transfer  of  rights,  privileges,  or  fran- 
chises, between  the  corporations  in  said  several  acts  named,  or  any 
two  of  them,  and  all  contracts,  stipulations,  licenses,  and  undertakings, 
made,  entered  into,  or  given ;  and  as  made  or  amended  by  and  between 
the  said  common  council  and  any  one  or  more  of  the  said  corporations, 
respecting  the  location,  use  or  exclusion  of  railways  in  or  upon  the 
streets  or  any  of  them,  of  said  city,  shall  be  deemed  and  held  and 
continued  in  force  during  the  life  hereof  as  valid  and  effectual,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  as  if  made  a  part,  and  the  same  are  hereby  made 
a  part  of  said  several  acts. 

Before  this  measure  was  enacted,  it  was  strongly  opposed 
in  the  city  of  Chicago,  and  a  petition,  signed  by  9000  citizens, 
was  presented  against  its  passage.  When  the  bill  reached 
Governor  Oglesby,  he  refused  to  sign  it,  and  returned  it  to 
the  legislature  with  a  vigorous  message  in  opposition.  But 
the  plans  of  the  companies  had  been  well  laid,  and  the  bill 
was  promptly  passed  over  the  governor's  veto,  by  a  vote 
of  18  to  5  in  the  Senate  and  55  to  23  in  the  House. 

Under  this  act  the  companies  have  claimed  that  their 
franchises  were  extended  to  a  period  of  ninety-nine  years 
from  1859  and  1861.  And  they  asserted  this  claim,  not  only 
in  reference  to  grants  made  -before  the  passage  of  the  act  of 
1865,  but  also  in  reference  to  subsequent  grants.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  city  always  denied  the  validity  of  these  claims. 
But  for  forty  years  the  matter  was  not  brought  into  the 


THE    STREET   RAILWAY   QUESTION   IN    CHICAGO  235 

courts  where  the  precise  effect  of  the  act  could  receive  a 
judicial  interpretation. 

However  the  act  of  1865  might  be  interpreted,  the  pro- 
test against  its  obvious  intent  to  assert  the  authority  of  the 
legislature  in  local  matters  soon  led  to  a  return  to  the  earlier 
policy  of  local  control  and  short-term  franchises.  The  new 
constitution  of  Illinois,  adopted  in  1870,  contained  a  pro- 
vision prohibiting  the  legislature  from  granting  street  rail- 
way rights  in  any  city,  town,  or  incorporated  village 
without  requiring  the  consent  of  the  local  authorities. 
This  policy  was  continued  in  the  general  act  of  1872  for 
the  incorporation  of  cities,  which  required  all  street  rail- 
way franchises  granted  thereafter  to  be  limited  to  twenty 
years.  This  provision  became  applicable  to  Chicago  when 
that  city  adopted  the  act  in  1875.  The  same  end  had 
been  secured  by  a  provision  in  the  Horse  and  Dummy  Act 
of  1874,  also  limiting  future  street  railway  grants  to 
twenty  years.  And  various  franchises  were  granted  from 
time  to  time  under  these  acts  for  the  further  extension 
of  the  Chicago  street  railways. 

Under  the  provisions  of  the  first  ordinances  and  legisla- 
tive acts,  the  grants  made  in  1858  should  have  expired,  or 
at  least  have  been  terminable  in  1883.  At  that  time  the 
questions  were  extensively  discussed,  and,  if  claims  had 
been  pressed  either  by  the  city  or  the  companies,  a  deter- 
mination might  have  been  reached.  The  Citizens'  Associa- 
tion appointed  a  committee  to  investigate  the  matter.  Tv/o 
of  the  three  members  reported  that  the  original  contract 
made  by  the  city  in  1858  was  ultra  vires  and  void,  and  that 
the  companies  held  their  rights  under  the  act  of  1865.  The 
third  member  (George  F.  Harding)  argued  that  the  act  of 
1859  had  confirmed  the  grants  made  the  year  before,  and 
that  the  act  of  1865  simply  extended  the  lives  of  the  cor- 
porations, holding  that  any  extension  of  the  franchises 
provided  by  the  act  was  void  as  an  impairment  of  the  con- 
tract previously  made. 


236  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

In  view  of  these  circumstances  a  temporary  compromise 
was  effected.  The  city  council  in  July,  1883,  passed  an 
ordinance  extending  the  term  of  all  existing  franchises  for 
twenty  years,  and  providing  that  neither  this  grant  nor  its 
acceptance  by  the  companies  should  alter  the  existing  rights, 
duties,  and  obligations  of  either  party.  By  this  means  the 
controversy  over  the  ninety-nine-year  act  was  postponed 
until  the  expiration  of  this  grant  in  1903.  In  the  same  year 
(1883)  a  new  company,  the  Chicago  Passenger  Railway 
Company,  had  been  incorporated  and  received  franchises 
for  twenty  years  to  build  and  operate  additional  lines  on  the 
west  side. 

II 

Until  1880  the  street  railways  of  Chicago  had  been  operated 
with  horses,  and  the  business  developed  had  not  been  suffi- 
cient to  attract  the  attention  of  large  financial  promoters. 
But  soon  after  this  date  there  was  introduced,  first,  cable 
traction,  and  later,  electric  power.  These  changes  of  motive 
power  were  made  without  any  new  grant  from  the  city 
council  or  the  legislature,  although  the  earlier  franchises 
had  been  given  distinctly  for  railways  to  be  operated 
only  by  animal  power.  And  in  connection  with  the 
new  methods  of  traction  and  the  reconstruction  of  the 
lines  there  appeared  on  the  scene  new  managers,  new 
financial  interests,  and  striking  methods  of  speculative 
financiering. 

Cable  traction  was  first  established  in  1881  on  the  most 
important  lines  of  the  City  Railway  Company  on  the  south 
side.  In  a  few  years  a  large  proportion  of  the  lines  of  this 
company  had  been  converted  to  the  new  system.  After 
1890  electric  power  was  introduced  on  many  of  the  lines. 
In  connection  with  these  improvements  large  issues  of  stocks 
and  bonds  were  made  from  time  to  time.  In  1880  the  total 
capital  liabilities  had  been  $1,500,000  in  stock.  By  1897 
there  were   outstanding  $16,600,000  in  stock  and   bonds, 


THE   STREET  RAILWAY   QUESTION   IN   CHICAGO  237 

against  which  the  plant  and  equipment  on  the  books  of  the 
company  represented  an  investment  of  about  $11,600,000.* 

But  these  transactions  appear  small  in  comparison  with 
those  for  the  north  and  west  side  lines.  Here  the  original 
companies  were  dilatory  in  taking  steps  to  introduce  the 
new  methods,  and  no  active  steps  were  taken  until  1886. 
Beginning  in  that  year,  Mr.  Charles  T.  Yerkes,  a  broker 
who  had  recently  come  to  Chicago  from  Philadelphia,  with 
the  assistance  of  Messrs.  Elkins  and  Widener  and  other 
Philadelphia  capitalists,  secured  control  of  a  majority  of  the 
stock  of  the  North  Chicago  and  West  Division  companies. 
Two  new  companies  were  organized  which  leased  the  lines 
of  the  original  companies  and  also  those  of  the  Chicago 
Passenger  Railway.  New  securities  were  issued,  and  physical 
improvements,  reconstruction,  and  extensions  were  carried 
out.  As  a  result,  at  the  end  of  ten  years  (in  1897)  the  total 
capital  liabilities  of  the  north  and  west  side  lines  had  been 
increased  from  less  than  $8,000,000^  to  $58,700,000.  The 
cost  value  of  the  plant  and  equipment  at  the  latter  date, 
according  to  the  books  of  the  companies,  was  $29,750,000, 
and  this  included  a  large  profit  to  inside  construction  com- 
panies formed  by  the  leading  capitalists  controlling  the 
companies  owning  and  operating  the  lines. 

Combining  the  financial  operations  of  all  these  companies, 
the  total  capital  liabilities  had  been  increased  from  $9,500,000 
to  more  than  $75,000,000  in  1897,  while  the  book  cost  of 
construction  had  been  but  little  over  $40,000,000.' 

In  carrying  out  his  extensive  schemes,  Mr.  Yerkes  had 
deemed  it  advisable  to  exercise  an  active  but,  so  far  as  possible, 
a  secret  influence  in  political  affairs.  He  became  the  domi- 
nant factor  in  nominating  conventions,  and  had  control  over 
both  city  and  state  governments,  so  far  at  least  as  his  busi- 

•  "  Report  of  Investigation  by  the  Civic  Federation "  in  Municipal 
Affairs,  V,  439. 

'  Even  this  was  much  in  excess  of  the  cost  of  construction  up  to  that 
time. 

'Op.  cU. 


238  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

ness  interests  were  concerned.  And  the  period  of  his  domi- 
nance, in  the  early  nineties,  marks  the  deepest  degradation 
of  both  the  city  council  of  Chicago  and  the  state  legislature 
of  Illinois.  His  success  up  to  this  point  encouraged  him  to 
enter  on  more  far-reaching  plans.  But  these  very  plans 
served  at  last  to  arouse  the  public  opinion  of  the  community 
and  to  inaugurate  an  effective  movement  for  the  betterment 
of  political  conditions  both  in  city  and  state. 

In  1895  bills  were  introduced  and  passed  in  the  legislature 
to  confer  new  franchise  rights  more  valuable  than  could  be 
granted  by  the  council.  These  were,  however,  blocked  by 
the  veto  of  Governor  Altgeld.  Two  years  later,  with  a  more 
pliant  governor  in  the  executive  chair,  the  attempt  was 
renewed.  A  series  of  bills  known  as  the  Humphrey  Bills 
were  introduced,  conferring  franchises  for  fifty  years  with 
no  safeguards  for  the  public  interests  and  no  compensation 
for  what  were  now  clearly  seen  to  be  privileges  of  immense 
financial  value.  But  public  sentiment  in  Chicago  was  now 
thoroughly  aroused,  and  was  vigorously  expressed  in  a  series 
of  public  meetings.  The  protests  were  carried  to  the  legisla- 
ture, and  were,  in  part,  effective  by  preventing  the  passage 
of  the  original  bills.  There  was  enacted,  however,  with  the 
approval  of  the  governor,  the  Allen  law,  authorizing  city 
councils  to  grant  street  railway  franchises  for  fifty-year 
periods  and  in  other  ways  strengthening  the  position  of  the 
companies.^ 

A  short  time  before  this  the  city  council  of  Chicago  would 
have  readily  granted  franchises  under  the  Allen  law.  But 
in  1896  the  Municipal  Voters'  League  had  been  organized, 
and  had  already  improved  the  general  character  of  the  council 
by  securing  the  election  of  better  men.  Other  members 
who  might  have  been  subject  to  improper  influences  knew 
that  their  actions  were  more  closely  watched  than  formerly. 
The  attitude  of  Mayor  Carter  Harrison,  Jr.,  in  opposition 
to  any  grant  under  the  Allen  law,  also  aided  in  preventing 

*  J.  H.  Gray,  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  October,  1897. 


THE    STREET   RAILWAY    QUESTION   IN    CHICAGO  239 

any  action.  Not  only  was  no  grant  made,  but  it  was  clearly 
indicated  that  no  further  grants  would  be  made  until  that 
law  was  repealed.  In  the  legislative  elections  of  1898  the 
vote  on  the  Allen  law  was  made  an  issue  in  many  districts, 
and  a  large  number  of  members  who  had  voted  for  the  law 
were  defeated  for  renomination  or  reelection.  And  the 
law  was  promptly  repealed  by  the  legislature  of  1899. 

At  the  April  municipal  election  of  1899,  following  the 
repeal  of  the  Allen  law.  Mayor  Harrison  was  reelected  for 
a  second  term;  and,  mainly  through  the  work  of  the  Voters' 
League,  the  council  had  now  a  clear  majority  of  members 
that  could  be  trusted  to  vote  against  any  franchise  that  did 
not  protect  the  interests  of  the  community.  Under  these 
circumstances,  Mr.  Yerkes  decided  to  retire.  The  Chicago 
Union  Traction  Company  was  organized  by  the  Elkins- 
Widener-Whitney  syndicate,  which  took  over  Mr.  Yerkes's 
holdings  and  entered  into  new  leases  with  the  underlying 
companies  to  operate  both  the  north  and  west  side  lines. 
This  eliminated  Mr.  Yerkes  from  the  situation,  but  the  process 
of  financial  manipulation  continued. 

At  the  same  time  the  companies  definitely  adopted  the 
policy  of  refusing  to  make  further  improvements  in  the 
service  on  the  ground  that  capital  could  not  be  secured 
without  additional  franchises.  The  cable  lines  were  now 
clearly  antiquated,  the  track  and  rolling  stock  were  allowed 
to  deteriorate,  with  the  obvious  purpose  of  forcing  the  grant 
of  a  new  franchise  on  terms  to  be  dictated  by  the  companies. 
Later  events  showed  clearly  that  there  was  no  justification 
for  the  plea  that  improvements  could  not  be  made  without 
new  grants.  For  in  two  of  the  three  divisions  of  the  city 
the  companies,  under  their  original  franchises,  could  not  be 
dispossessed  until  they  were  paid  full  value  for  their  plant 
and  equipment.  Moreover,  the  companies  maintained  at 
the  same  time  their  claims  under  the  ninety-nine-year  act, 
and  on  the  basis  of  these  claims  and  the  constantly  increasing 
traffic  were  actively  engaged  in  floating  new  securities  and 


240  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

piling  up  the  obligations  on  their  rapidly  deteriorating  equip- 
ment. An  elaborate  investigation,  made  under  the  direction 
of  the  Civic  Federation  in  1901,  showed  that  the  aggregate 
capital  liabilities  of  the  companies  had  then  a  face  value  of 
$117,000,000  and  a  market  value  of  $120,000,000,  —  an 
increase  of  more  than  $40,000,000  since  1897.  At  the  same 
time  the  original  cost  value  of  assets  was  $56,000,000,  or  but 
$15,000,000  more  than  in  1897,  Making  conservative  allow- 
ances for  depreciation,  the  market  value  of  the  assets  was  but 
$45,840,000;  and  if  the  inter-company  obligations  repre- 
senting no  physical  property  were  deducted,  the  net  value 
of  the  physical  property  was  only  $34,750,000.^ 

Ill 

In  the  early  stages  of  the  contest  with  Mr.  Yerkes  and 
the  companies,  the  energies  of  public-spirited  citizens  and 
the  local  authorities  had  been  directed  to  the  negative  task 
of  defeating  the  plans  of  the  former  for  extending  and  making 
more  secure  their  control  over  the  local  transportation  ser- 
vice and  the  political  situation.  The  development  of  a  con- 
structive policy  was  a  task  of  even  greater  difficulty,  and  one 
that  has  taken  a  good  many  years  to  bring  to  its  present 
outcome.  The  first  step  in  this  direction  was  the  appoint- 
ment by  the  council,  late  in  1897,  of  a  special  committee  to 
collect  and  collate  information  on  the  subject  of  street  rail- 
ways. This  committee  in  March  of  the  following  year  sub- 
mitted a  detailed  report  on  the  franchises,  operation,  and 
finances  of  the  various  companies,  and  on  the  wages  of  em- 
ployees and  the  conditions  of  employment.  It  made  no 
specific  recommendations;^  but,  nevertheless,  this  report, 
known  as  the  Harlan  report,  from  Alderman  John  Maynard 
Harlan,  the  first  member  of  the  committee,  forms  the  starting- 
point  for  the  policy  later  developed. 

*  M.  R.  Maltbie,  in  Municipal  Affairs,  V,  450. 

'  Report  of  the  Special  Committee  of  the  City  Council  of  Chicago  on 
Street  Railway  Franchises  and  Operations,  March  28,  1898. 


THE   STREET   RAILWAY   QUESTION   IN   CHICAGO  241 

Another  step  was  taken  in  December,  1899,  when  the 
city  council  passed  resolutions  creating  a  street  railway- 
commission,  which  was  in  fact  a  committee  of  the  council 
to  examine  the  feasibility  of  municipal  ownership  of  street 
railways  and  also  the  terms  and  conditions  on  which  new 
franchises  might  be  granted.  This  commission,  of  which 
Alderman  Milton  J.  Foreman  was  chairman,  submitted  its 
report  in  December,  1900,  known  commonly  in  Chicago  as 
the  Sikes  report,  from  Mr.  George  C.  Sikes,  the  secretary 
of  the  commission.  This  report  favored,  among  other  things, 
the  unification  of  management  of  all  street  railways  in  the 
city,  the  prohibition  of  overcapitalization,  publicity  in  the 
conduct  of  the  business,  and  the  reservation  of  broad  powers 
of  control  by  the  city  in  any  future  franchises.  It  also 
urged  that  the  city  should  secure  from  the  legislature  an 
enabling  act  authorizing  municipal  ownership,  as  a  reserve 
power  to  place  the  city  in  a  better  position  to  make  terms 
with  private  corporations.^  A  bill  to  carry  out  these  rec- 
ommendations was  submitted  with  the  report,  providing 
for  a  popular  referendum  on  street  railway  franchises,  au- 
thorizing municipal  ownership,  and  —  after  a  referendum 
vote  —  municipal  operation.  The  bill  was  introduced  in  the 
legislature  in  1901,  but  was  not  reported  by  the  committees 
of  either  House. 

Carrying  out  one  of  the  recommendations  of  the  com- 
mission, the  city  council  in  1901  created  a  special  committee 
on  local  transportation.  After  the  election  of  April,  1901,^ 
this  committee  was  made  a  permanent  standing  committee; 
and  this  committee,  with  changes  in  its  membership  from 
time  to  time,  has  had  charge  of  the  subsequent  development 
of  the  municipal  policy.  As  a  result  of  its  first  year's  work, 
the  committee  formulated  and  submitted  to  the  council 
an  outline  of  the  provisions  that  should  be  included  in  any 

*  Report  of  the  Street  Railway  Commission  to  the  City  Council  of 
Chicago,  December,  1900. 

'  At  which  Mayor  Harrison  was  elected  for  a  third  term. 

B 


242  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

franchise  renewal  ordinance.  This  outline  specified  that 
such  a  franchise  should  be  granted  for  twenty  years,  with  a 
proviso  that  the  city  might  purchase  at  any  time  after  the 
expiration  of  the  first  ten  years  of  the  grant.  It  further 
provided  that  the  companies  should  waive  absolutely  all 
claims  under  the  ninety-nine-year  act.  And  it  reserved  to  the 
city  council  large  powers  of  control,  and  required  the  con- 
struction of  underground  trolley  lines  in  the  business  centre 
of  the  city.  Nothing  definite,  however,  was  accomplished. 
The  companies  were  not  ready  to  accept  these  terms.  And 
the  city  authorities  were  also  willing  to  wait  until  the  expi- 
ration of  the  twenty-year  extension  ordinance  in  1903. 

While  the  official  authorities  of  the  city  were  thus  pre- 
paring for  a  renewal  of  the  franchises,  popular  sentiment 
was  advancing  more  rapidly  in  favor  of  the  policy  of  mu- 
nicipal ownership.  And  the  strength  of  this  sentiment  was 
clearly  shown  at  a  popular  referendum  in  April,  1902.  This 
vote  was  taken  under  an  Illinois  statute  of  1901,  known  as 
the  Public  Opinion  Law,  under  which,  on  petition  of  25  per 
cent  of  the  registered  voters,  questions  of  public  policy  may 
be  submitted  to  popular  vote.  These  votes  have  no  legal 
binding  effect,  but  are  merely  an  indication  of  popular  opinion. 
Before  the  spring  election  of  1902  the  Referendum  League 
secured  the  required  number  of  signatures  to  a  petition  call- 
ing for  a  vote  on  the  questions  of  municipal  ownership  of 
street  railways  and  lighting  plants  and  the  direct  nomina- 
tion of  candidates  for  city  officers.  At  the  election  the  total 
vote  cast  for  city  officers  was  about  200,000,  or  a  little  more 
than  half  of  the  vote  cast  at  the  preceding  presidential  elec- 
tion. The  vote  on  the  questions  of  public  policy  was  about 
170,000,  and  was  about  seven  to  one  in  the  affirmative  on 
each  of  the  three  propositions.  In  regard  to  municipal 
ownership  of  street  railways  the  actual  vote  was  142,826  in 
favor  and  27,998  against. 

There  has  been  much  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  signifi- 
cance of  this  vote.     On  its  face  it  indicated  an  overwhelm- 


THE   STREET  RAILWAY   QUESTION   IN   CHICAGO  243 

ing  popular  demand.  But  it  has  been  pointed  out  that  the 
vote  in  favor  of  municipal  ownership  represented  little  more 
than  a  third  of  the  total  registered  voters,  and  it  has  also 
been  urged  that  it  simply  expressed  the  general  hostility  to 
the  traction  companies  that  had  been  aroused  by  their  poor 
service  and  policy  of  exploitation.  However  the  vote  may  be 
interpreted,  there  can  be  no  question  that  it  gave  a  renewed 
impetus  to  the  demand  for  an  act  authorizing  municipal 
ownership.  To  this  end  efforts  were  next  directed,  and  in 
these  efforts  there  were  united  both  those  who  favored  the 
actual  establishment  of  a  municipal  system  and  those  who 
desired  the  authority  as  a  means  of  negotiating  with  the 
companies. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  legislative  session  of  1903  the 
prospects  for  any  legislation  opposed  by  the  street  railway 
companies  were  far  from  bright.  Especially  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  house  of  representatives,  the  election  of  speaker, 
and  the  appointment  of  the  committee  on  transportation, 
it  was  indicated  that  the  street  railway  companies  were 
working  in  harmony  with  William  C.  Lorimer,  the  boss  of 
the  Republican  machine  in  Chicago,  and  with  Governor 
Yates.  Nevertheless,  it  was  decided  to  make  the  attempt. 
An  agreement  was  reached  to  support  a  measure  drafted  by 
Walter  L.  Fisher,  secretary  of  the  Municipal  Voters'  League, 
and  introduced  by  Senator  Miiller,  after  whom  it  was  named. 
This  bill  was  strongly  supported,  not  only  by  Mayor  Harrison 
and  the  city  council,  but  also  by  Graeme  Stewart,  Republican 
candidate  for  mayor  in  the  election  campaign  of  that  spring, 
by  John  Maynard  Harlan,  who  had  been  Mr.  Stewart's  active 
opponent  for  the  nomination,  by  the  Voters'  League  and  other 
organizations,  and  by  the  newspaper  press  of  Chicago,  with 
the  exception  of  the  Inter-Ocean,  which,  it  was  known,  had 
been  purchased  by  the  street  railway  interests.  As  a  result 
of  this  influence,  the  Miiller  bill  passed  the  Senate  immedi- 
ately after  the  municipal  election  in  April ;  ^  but  it  seems  to 

*  Mayor  Harrison  was  reelected  for  a  fourth  term. 


244  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

have  been  clearly  the  intention  to  defeat  the  measure  in  the 
House. 

The  contest  culminated  in  a  dramatic  situation  of  the 
highest  intensity.  The  House  committee  on  transporta- 
tion, to  which  the  Miiller  bill  was  referred,  prepared  a  sub- 
stitute measure,  and  a  strong  effort  was  made  to  induce  at 
least  some  of  the  Chicago  supporters  of  the  Miiller  bill  to 
accept  this  substitute.^  When  this  offer  was  refused,  the 
House  leaders  decided  to  resort  to  extreme  measures,  as  it 
was  known  that  the  Democrats  in  the  House  would  unite 
with  the  Independent  Republicans  in  favor  of  the  senate 
bill.  The  house  committee  presented  its  substitute  report, 
and,  in  the  face  of  a  demand  for  a  roll-call  from  two-thirds 
of  the  members,  the  speaker  put  a  series  of  motions,  and 
declared  them  carried,  whereby  the  substitute  bill  was  re- 
corded as  having  passed  its  third  reading.  Had  this  result 
stood,  a  conference  committee  would  have  been  necessary; 
and  so  near  was  the  end  of  the  session  that  either  the  sub- 
stitute bill  or  no  legislation  would  have  been  enacted. 

But  the  party  leaders  had  overreached  themselves.  When, 
through  fear  of  personal  violence,  the  speaker  declared  the 
House  adjourned,  and  retired  in  haste  to  consult  with  the 
governor  and  his  friends,  ninety-seven  of  the  one  hundred  and 
fifty-three  members  of  the  House  remained  in  their  places, 
and,  forming  a  temporary  organization,  agreed  that  the 
appropriation  bills  should  not  be  passed,  and  no  further 
legislative  business  should  be  transacted  until  the  speaker 
should  retrace  his  actions.  The  speaker  was  forced  to  capit- 
ulate, a  reconsideration  was  taken,  and  the  Miiller  bill  was 
passed.    The  governor  did  not  venture  to  refuse  his  signature.^ 

The  Miiller  law '  is  a  general  act  authorizing  any  city  in 

*  There  was  no  opportunity  foj  a  study  of  this  substitute  bill,  but  it 
was  obviously  intended  to  defeat  the  effective  provisions  of  the  Miiller 
bill,  and  probably  contained  clauses  that  would  have  greatly  strengthened 
the  position  of  the  companies. 

*  See  Atlantic  Monthly,  January,  1904. 
»  Session  Laws,  1903,  p.  285  (May  18). 


THE   STREET  RAILWAY   QUESTION   IN   CHICAGO  245 

the  state  to  own  and  operate  street  railways  under  the  con- 
ditions prescribed.  The  act  is  of  special  significance,  because, 
in  addition  to  the  formal  grant  of  authority,  there  is  a  care- 
ful attempt  to  provide  a  satisfactory  method  for  meeting 
the  serious  financial  difficulties  involved  in  the  policy  of 
mimicipal  ownership,  so  that  the  grant  of  power  may  be 
effectively  used  by  any  city  which  considers  it  advisable  to 
make  use  of  the  authority. 

Before  any  of  the  powers  conferred  can  be  exercised,  the 
act  must  first  be  adopted  by  popular  referendum  in  the  city 
concerned,  while  additional  referendum  votes  must  be  taken 
in  reference  to  various  special  features  of  the  law.  The 
authority  given  is  "  to  construct,  acquire,  purchase,  maintain, 
and  operate  street  railways  within  the  corporate  limits"; 
and  franchises  granted  before  this  power  is  acted  on  may 
contain  a  reservation  of  the  right  on  the  part  of  the  city  to 
take  over  the  plant  at  some  future  time.  Two  methods  are 
authorized  for  securing  funds  for  purchasing  or  constructing 
municipal  railways.  General  city  bonds  may  be  issued, 
provided  the  proposition  is  submitted  to  popular  vote  and 
is  approved  by  two-thirds  of  those  voting;  but  debt  limits 
are  almost  certain  to  prevent  this  method  from  being  adopted. 
The  other  alternative  —  and  this  is  the  most  striking  feature 
of  the  act  —  is  to  issue  railway  certificates,  secured  by  a 
mortgage  on  the  plant,  giving  the  mortgagee  in  case  of  fore- 
closure the  right  to  maintain  and  operate  the  railway  for 
a  period  of  not  more  than  twenty  years.  Any  ordinance 
providing  for  such  certificates  must,  however,  be  submitted 
to  popular  vote  and  be  approved  by  a  majority  of  those 
voting  on  the  question.  It  was  expected  that  such  cer- 
tificates would  not  be  considered  as  part  of  the  city  debt,  to 
be  included  within  the  debt  limit  established  by  the  state 
constitution. 

When  a  city  has  secured  a  street  railway,  it  may  operate 
it  under  direct  municipal  management  only  if  that  policy 
is  also  approved  at  a  popular  referendum  by  three-fifths  of 


246  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

those  voting.  In  lieu  of  this  the  city  may  lease  any  munici- 
pal railway  for  a  period  of  not  over  twenty  years.  But  any 
ordinance  authorizing  a  lease  to  a  private  company  for  more 
than  five  years  must  be  submitted  to  a  popular  referendum 
on  the  petition  of  10  per  cent  of  the  voters. 

In  July,  1903,  the  twenty  years'  extension  provided  by 
the  ordinance  of  1883  expired.  But  as  no  new  agreement 
had  been  reached  at  that  time  and  the  city  was  not  yet  in 
a  position  to  act  under  the  Miiller  law,  the  various  companies 
remained  in  possession,  and  there  was  no  practical  change  in 
the  situation.  Indeed,  steps  had  been  taken  in  the  courts 
which  prevented  the  city  from  taking  any  aggressive  action 
to  oust  the  companies.  On  April  22,  1903,  the  Guaranty 
Trust  Company  of  New  York  brought  suit  in  the  United 
States  Circuit  Court  against  the  Union  Traction  Company 
and  other  north  and  west  side  companies;  and,  judgment 
being  given  and  no  property  found,  the  roads  were  placed 
in  the  hands  of  receivers.  These  companies  had  been  in 
financial  difficulties  for  some  time,  as  a  result  of  the  reckless 
issue  of  speculative  securities.  But  it  has  been  alleged  that 
the  suit  was  a  collusive  action  for  the  purpose  of  having  the 
claims  of  the  companies  under  the  ninety-nine-year  act 
adjudicated  in  the  United  States  courts  rather  than  in  the 
courts  of  Illinois.  And,  at  any  rate,  this  result  was  secured. 
On  July  18  the  receivers  appointed  by  the  court  began  pro- 
ceedings before  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  to  determine 
the  rights  of  the  companies  under  the  acts  of  1859,  1861, 
and  1865. 

At  the  April  election  in  1904  the  Miiller  law  was  adopted 
by  the  city  of  Chicago  by  a  vote  of  153,000  to  30,000.  At  the 
same  time  two  questions  of  public  policy  bearing  on  the  trac- 
tion situation  were  submitted,  with  the  following  result :  — 

1.  Shall  the  city  council  upon  the  adoption  of  the  Miiller  law  pro- 
ceed without  delay  to  acquire  the  ownership  of  the  street  railways  under 
the  powers  conferred  by  the  Miiller  law  ? 

Yes,  121,957 ;  no,  50,807. 


THE   STREET  RAILWAY  QUESTION   IN   CHICAGO  247 

2.  Shall  the  city  council  instead  of  granting  any  franchises  proceed 
at  once  under  the  city's  police  power  and  other  existing  laws  to  license 
the  street  railway  companies  until  municipal  ownership  can  be  secured, 
and  compel  them  to  give  satisfactory  service  ? 

Yes,  120,863 ;  no,  48,200. 

It  should  be  noted  that,  while  both  questions  carried  by 
a  vote  of  more  than  two  to  one,  the  vote  in  favor  of  municipal 
ownership  showed  a  falling  off  from  the  first  vote  in  1902, 
while  the  vote  on  the  other  side  had  increased. 

Meanwhile  the  local  transportation  committee  has  con- 
tinued negotiations  with  the  City  Railway  Company,  and  in 
August,  1904,  reported  a  tentative  ordinance  in  regard  to  the 
lines  of  that  company  on  the  south  side  of  the  city.  Accord- 
ing to  this  measure  the  claims  of  the  company  under  the 
ninety-nine-year  act  were  to  be  commuted  by  allowing  them 
to  continue  in  possession  for  thirteen  years,  after  which  all 
their  grants  were  to  expire.  Provisions  were  made  for  the 
immediate  reconstruction  of  the  lines,  for  extensions,  and 
for  improvements  in  service,  including  transfers  from  the 
lines  of  one  company  to  another  and  some  through  routes. 
The  city  was  to  receive  5  per  cent  of  the  gross  receipts  as 
compensation  for  the  use  of  the  streets,  in  addition  to  all 
regular  taxes  on  the  property  and  franchises. 

While  this  proposed  ordinance  was  being  discussed  in  the 
council,  Judge  Grosscup,  of  the  United  States  Circuit  Court, 
gave  his  decision  in  the  cases  concerning  the  north  and  west 
side  lines,  substantially  upholding  the  claims  of  the  com- 
panies that  all  grants  made  before  1875  were  valid  until  1958. 
An  appeal  was  at  once  taken  to  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court.  But  the  preliminary  decision  made  the  City  Rail- 
way Company  less  disposed  to  accept  the  compromise  in  the 
tentative  ordinance.  At  the  same  time  the  popular  agita- 
tion in  favor  of  municipal  ownership  was  steadily  increasing. 
And,  as  a  result,  the  winter  of  1904-05  passed  with  no  definite 
advance  toward  a  settlement  of  the  situation. 


248  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

IV 

In  the  municipal  campaign  of  1905  the  street  railway 
question  was  even  more  prominent  than  in  previous  elec- 
tions, and  was,  in  fact,  the  one  dominant  issue.  The  Repub- 
licans nominated  for  mayor  John  M.  Harlan,  formerly  an 
opponent  of  the  bosses  of  the  old  party  machine  and  a  leader 
in  the  council  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  contest  with  the 
companies.  At  the  outset  of  the  campaign  he  seemed  to 
favor  the  adoption  of  the  tentative  ordinance,  as  a  step 
toward  effective  ultimate  municipal  ownership  at  the  end  of 
the  thirteen  years.  But  before  the  end  of  the  campaign  he 
had  spoken  more  definitely  in  favor  of  earlier  action.  The 
Democrats,  abandoning  the  more  conservative  policy  fol- 
lowed by  Mayor  Harrison  in  harmony  with  the  Repubhcan 
council,  nominated  for  mayor  Judge  E.  F.  Dunne  on  a  plat- 
form calling  for  immediate  municipal  ownership  and  opera- 
tion. This,  it  was  promised,  could  be  inaugurated  by  using 
the  lines  where  the  franchises  had  clearly  expired;  and,  in 
the  case  of  franchises  which  might  be  held  valid,  either  by 
condemnation  proceedings  or  by  building  new  lines  parallel 
to  those  covered  by  unexpired  franchises. 

As  the  outcome.  Judge  Dunne  was  elected  by  a  majority 
of  20,000.  At  the  same  time  three  more  public  policy  votes 
were  taken,  which  again  indicated  on  their  face  the  strong 
popular  sentiment  against  any  continuation  of  the  franchise 
policy.    These  were  as  follows :  — 

1.  Shall  the  city  council  pass  the  tentative  ordinance?  Yes,  64,- 
391 ;  no,  150,785. 

2.  Shall  the  city  council  pass  any  ordinance  granting  a  franchise 
to  the  City  Railway  Company? 

Yes,  60,020;  no,  151,974. 

3.  Shall  the  city  council  pass  any  ordinance  granting  a  franchise  to 
any  street  railroad  company  ? 

Yes,  59,013;  no,  152,135. 

It  soon  became  clear  that  there  would  be  little  active 
cooperation  between  Mayor  Dunne  and  the  city  council. 


THE   STREET   RAILWAY   QUESTION  IN   CHICAGO  249 

The  council  had  a  Republican  majority;  but  this  was  not  of 
especial  significance,  as  a  number  of  Republican  members 
favored  the  mayor's  policy.  On  the  other  hand,  a  number 
of  Democratic  members  were  not  in  favor  of  immediate 
municipal  ownership  and  operation.  Nevertheless,  the  coun- 
cil recognized  the  result  of  the  election  by  reorganizing  the 
local  transportation  committee.  Alderman  Foreman  was 
retired  as  chairman,  and  in  his  place  Alderman  Charles  Wemo 
was  selected,  a  Democrat  and  a  supporter  of  the  mayor's 
policy.  Several  plans  of  procedure  were  proposed  by  the 
mayor;  but  action  on  these  was  defeated  or  postponed, 
either  in  the  committee  or  in  the  council.*  In  the  latter  part 
of  the  year,  negotiations  were  again  renewed  with  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  companies;  and  a  second  tentative  ordi- 
nance was  prepared  and  reported  to  the  council.  But  this 
ordinance  did  not  prove  satisfactory  even  to  many  of  those 
opposed  to  the  pohcy  of  immediate  municipal  ownership. 
And  it  was  understood  that  leaders  in  the  Voters'  League 
and  the  independent  newspapers  declined  to  support  it. 

•  An  interesting  episode  was  that  connected  with  the  visit  of  Mr. 
Dalrymple,  general  manager  of  the  municipal  tramways  of  Glasgow, 
Scotland.  Immediately  after  his  election  Mr.  Dunne  cabled  to  the  Lord 
Provost  of  Glasgow,  requesting  the  Glasgow  authorities  to  allow  their 
tramway  manager  to  visit  Chicago.  It  was  afterward  explained  that 
Mr.  Dunne  had  acted  on  the  advice  of  Mayor  Johnson  of  Cleveland,  and 
that  the  latter  had  in  mind  Mr.  Young,  the  former  manager  of  the  Glas- 
gow lines,  who  by  the  irony  of  fate  had  gone  to  London  to  take  charge 
of  Mr.  Yerkes's  new  undertakings  there.  Mr.  Dalrymple  came  to  Chi- 
cago, saw  Mayor  Dunne  and  his  friends,  but  was  not  brought  into  com- 
munication with  the  council  committee  on  local  transportation.  He 
did,  however,  meet  some  of  the  representatives  of  the  companies,  and 
looked  over  the  situation  in  Chicago  and  other  American  cities.  When 
his  report  was  received,  Mayor  Dunne  declined  to  make  it  pubhc  on 
the  ground  that  Mr.  Dalrymple  had  been  his  personal  guest.  Event- 
ually, the  council  secured  a  copy  of  this  report  through  the  Glasgow 
Town  Council.  The  first  report  was  brief  and  rather  vague,  recommend- 
ing an  agreement  with  the  companies  on  account  of  the  difficulties  of 
municipalization,  among  which  were  mentioned  the  ninety-nine-year 
act,  the  methods  of  municipal  work  in  the  United  States,  and  the  de- 
tached nature  of  the  expiring  franchises.  A  second  report,  sent  at  the 
special  request  of  Mayor  Dunne,  discussed  methods  of  administration. 


250  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

Under  these  circumstances  the  council  decided  to  submit 
to  the  voters  at  the  election  in  April,  1906,  the  question  of 
authorizing  an  issue  of  $75,000,000  of  street  railway  certifi- 
cates, under  the  provisions  of  the  Miiller  law,  with  which 
to  purchase  or  construct  street  railways;  and  also  the  ques- 
tion of  municipal  operation.  At  the  same  time  there  was 
submitted,  under  the  public  policy  act,  a  general  question 
whether  the  city  should  proceed  under  the  Miiller  Act  in  pref- 
erence to  passing  franchise  ordinances.  The  result  of  these 
votes  was  as  follows :  — 

Yes.  No. 

(1)  On  the  issue  of  Miiller  law  certificates      .     .     110,225  106,859 

(2)  On  municipal  operation 121,916  110,323 

(3)  Public  policy  question 111,955  108,087 

The  vote  on  the  first  question  definitely  authorized  the 
issue  of  street  railway  certificates  under  the  statute.  But 
it  was  recognized  that  there  was  some  doubt  whether  the 
courts  would  recognize  the  validity  of  the  provisions  in  the 
law  excluding  such  certificates  from  the  city  debt  limit. 
And  this  legal  question  had  to  be  determined  before  active 
measures  could  be  taken.  The  vote  on  municipal  operation, 
although  showing  a  larger  majority  in  its  favor,  was  not 
equal  to  the  three-fifths  vote  required  by  the  Miiller  law; 
and  that  part  of  the  mayor's  policy  was,  for  the  time  at  least, 
defeated.  The  vote  on  all  of  the  questions  showed  a  large 
increase  over  the  previous  referendum  votes,  a  notable  decline 
in  the  vote  in  favor  of  municipalization,  and  an  enormous 
increase  of  the  vote  in  opposition. 

Just  before  the  election  the  legal  situation  was  clarified 
by  a  decision  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  in  effect 
overruling  the  decision  of  the  Circuit  Court  as  to  the  rights 
of  the  companies  under  the  ninety-nine-year  act.  The  Su- 
preme Court  decided  against  some  of  the  arguments  presented 
for  the  city,  denying  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States 
courts  and  the  constitutionality  of  the  act  of  1865.  But 
in  interpreting  that  act  the  court  held  that,  while  it  clearly 


THE    STREET  RAILWAY   QUESTION   IN    CHICAGO  251 

extended  the  corporate  life  of  the  older  companies  for  a  period 
of  ninety-nine  years,  the  ambiguous  clause  on  which  the  claims 
to  an  extension  of  the  franchises  were  based  must  be  inter- 
preted in  accordance  with  the  established  principle "  that  one 
who  asserts  private  rights  in  public  property  under  grants  of 
the  character  of  those  under  consideration  must,  if  he  would 
establish  them,  come  prepared  to  show  that  they  have  been 
conferred  in  plain  terms,  for  nothing  passes  by  the  grant 
unless  it  be  clearly  stated  or  necessarily  implied."  As  Chief 
Justice  Taney  had  said  in  an  earlier  case,  "The  rule  of  con- 
struction in  cases  of  this  description  ...  is  this,  that  any 
ambiguity  in  the  terms  of  the  grant  must  operate  against 
the  corporation  and  in  favor  of  the  public,  and  the  corpora- 
tion can  claim  nothing  that  is  not  clearly  given  by  the  law."  * 

Applying  this  principle,  it  was  held  that  "it  cannot  be 
successfully  maintained  that  the  act  of  1865  contains  a  clear 
expression  of  legislative  intention  to  extend  the  franchise  of 
these  corporations  to  use  the  streets  of  Chicago,  without  refer- 
ence to  the  assent  of  the  city,  for  the  long  term  of  ninety-nine 
years ;  and  for  that  time  preventing  other  and  different  legis- 
lation restricting  the  grant  of  a  practically  exclusive  right." 

A  dissenting  opinion  was  filed  by  Justice  Kenna,  with 
whom  Justices  Brewer  and  Brown  concurred,  upholding 
the  claims  of  the  companies  on  the  ground  that  the  clause 
clearly  intended  to  confer  such  a  grant,  and  that  this  inter- 
pretation was  confirmed  by  the  opposition  to  the  act  and  the 
arguments  presented  in  Governor  Oglesby's  veto  message. 

In  discussing  some  minor  points,  the  court  recognized 
the  distinction  in  the  terms  of  the  earliest  grants  by  the  city, 
on  which  the  companies'  rights  now  rested.  While  on  the 
north  side  the  earlier  grants  had  all  definitely  expired,  on 

>  Ferine  v.  Chesapeake  &  Canal  Co.,  9  Howard,  172.  Cf.  Charles 
River  Bridge  v.  Warren  Bridge,  11  Peters,  429;  Binghamton  Bridge  v. 
Binghamton  Bridge  Co.,  3  Wallace,  51,  75;  Northwestern  Fertilizing  Co. 
V.  Hyde  Park,  97  U.S.  659;  Stidell  v.  Grandgean,  111  U.S.  412;  Corson 
Mining  Co.  v.  South  Carolina,  144  U.S.  550;  Knoxville  Water  Co.  v. 
Knoxville,  200  U.S.  22,  34 


252  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

the  south  and  west  sides  the  franchises  continued  until  the 
city  should  purchase  the  plant  and  equipment.^ 

As  a  result  of  this  decision,  the  position  of  the  city  was 
greatly  strengthened  as  against  the  companies,  which  had 
left  merely  a  few  detached  pieces  of  street  railway  line,  built 
under  later  franchises,  and  on  the  south  and  west  sides  the 
right  to  compensation  for  their  cars  and  tracks.  At  the  same 
time  the  local  election  had  committed  the  city  to  the  policy 
of  municipal  ownership,  but  had  also  blocked  any  immediate 
municipal  operation.  This  situation  caused  both  the  mayor 
and  the  companies  to  modify  their  attitude. 

On  the  mayor's  side  this  change  was  first  indicated  by 
the  retirement  of  Mr.  Clarence  S.  Darrow  from  the  position 
of  special  legal  adviser  on  street  railway  matters,  and  the 
appointment  to  that  place  of  Mr.  Walter  L.  Fisher,  who  had 
been  secretary  and  later  president  of  the  Municipal  Voters' 
League,  and  had  drafted  the  original  Miiller  bill.  This  ap- 
pointment was  followed  by  a  bitter  and  unwarrantable  attack 
on  Mr.  Fisher  by  some  of  the  former  opponents  of  the  mayor's 
policy.  But  it  proved  to  be  one  of  the  wisest  steps  taken 
by  the  mayor,  and  the  settlement  which  has  been  adopted 
is  due  in  very  large  part  to  Mr.  Fisher.  On  April  27,  1906, 
Mayor  Dunne,  doubtless  with  the  advice  of  his  new  counsel, 
addressed  a  letter  to  Alderman  Werno,  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee on  local  transportation,  outlining  a  plan  for  a  prompt 
settlement,  on  the  following  basis :  — 

(1)  An  agreement  with  the  companies  for  the  purchase 
of  their  property  and  unexpired  rights  at  a  fixed  price. 

(2)  The  temporary  continued  operation  of  the  lines  by 
the  companies  under  a  revocable  license. 

(3)  Immediate  reconstruction  of  the  system  and  improve- 
ments in  the  service,  the  cost  to  be  repaid  when  the  city  should 
take  possession. 

(4)  Profits,  above  a  fair  return  to  the  companies  upon  their 
present  and  future  investments,  to  be  divided  with  the  city. 

'  Blair  v.  Chicago,  201  U.S.  400. 


THE    STREET   RAILWAY    QUESTION    IN    CHICAGO 


253 


On  their  part  the  companies  accepted  the  general  principles 
of  this  plan.  Negotiations  were  again  opened  between  their 
representatives  and  the  local  transportation  committee, 
with  the  mayor  and  his  special  counsel,  Mr.  Fisher,  in  regular 
attendance.  It  is  of  interest,  also,  to  note  that  one  of  the 
prominent  legal  advisers  in  these  later  proceedings  has  been 
John  M.  Harlan,  who  was  appointed  by  Judge  Grosscup  in 
connection  with  the  litigation  and  receivership  of  the  north 
and  west  side  lines,  as  representative  of  the  court. 

A  basis  for  agreement  having  been  reached,  one  of  the 
most  important  problems  was  to  determine  the  value  of  the 
existing  plant  and  unexpired  franchises.  For  this  purpose 
a  special  commission  of  engineering  experts  was  appointed, 
consisting  of  Bion  J.  Arnold,  who  had  been  employed  by 
the  local  transportation  committee  for  several  years,  Morti- 
mer E.  Cooley,  dean  of  the  Department  of  Engineering  in 
the  University  of  Michigan,  who  had  directed  an  exhaustive 
investigation  of  the  physical  value  of  the  railroads  of  Michigan 
a  few  years  before,  and  A.  B.  DuPont,  the  mayor's  engineer- 
ing adviser.  In  September  the  companies  submitted  their 
estimates,  which  aggregated  $73,555,000.  About  one-third  of 
this  was  for  franchises,  on  the  assumption  that  their  remain- 
ing rights  were  equivalent  to  an  average  of  seven  years  on  all 
the  existing  lines.  But  the  commission's  report,  made  in 
December,  reduced  these  figures  by  more  than  a  third.  A 
comparative  summary  of  the  two  estimates  is  given  below: — 


Physical 
Propeett 

Franchises 

Total 

WITHOUT 

Paving 

Total 

Including 

Paving 

Chicago  City  Railway: 
Company's  valuation  .     .     .    . 
Commissionera'  valuation    .    . 

$20,103,936 
16,782,147 

$10,332,228 
3,754,363 

$20,536,510 

$30,436,164 
22,369,068 

Chicago  Union  Traction  Co.: 
Company's  valuation  .    .     .     . 
Commissioners'  valuation   .    . 

$29,294,471 
20,853,629 

$13,825,040 
5,262,608 

$26,116,237 

$43,119,511 
28,625,714 

Both  companies  : 
Company's  valuation .     .    .    . 
Commissioners'  valuation   .     . 

$49,398,407 
37,635,776 

$24,157,268 
9,016,971 

$46,652,747 

$73,555,675 
50,094,782 

254  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

The  commissioners'  valuation  for  physical  property  was 
about  $10,000,000  more  than  the  valuation  determined  in  an 
investigation  by  the  Arnold  Company  in  1902.  This  was 
due  in  part  to  the  increased  price  of  materials  on  which  the 
estimates  were  based,  and  in  part  to  new  equipment  that 
had  been  added  since  the  earlier  valuation.  In  other  respects 
the  valuation  must  be  considered  as  fairly  liberal  to  the  com- 
panies. The  physical  property  was  valued  on  the  basis  of 
the  cost  of  reconstruction  at  existing  prices,  less  allowances 
for  depreciation.  The  cable  roads  on  the  south  and  west 
sides  were  valued  as  operating  lines  (although  it  was  evident 
the  plant  must  be  discarded  in  the  reconstruction  work)  in 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  the  companies  had  a  legal  right 
to  operate  these  lines  until  purchased  by  the  city.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  north  side  lines,  where  the  city  was  under 
no  legal  obligation  to  purchase  at  all,  were  estimated  at  the 
value  of  the  equipment  in  a  reconstructed  system.  Whether 
the  city  should  repay  the  companies  for  street  paving  was 
left  an  open  question  in  the  commissioners'  report.  The 
franchise  values  were  determined  by  estimating  the  unex- 
pired franchises  not  as  detached  lines,  but  as  part  of  the  exist- 
ing systems.  And  to  this  were  added  the  estimated  profits 
on  all  the  existing  lines  for  a  period  of  eighteen  months, 
which  period,  it  was  estimated,  would  elapse  before  the  city 
could  take  possession  of  the  property  by  eminent  domain  or 
other  compulsory  proceedings. 

In  the  end  the  representatives  of  the  companies  agreed  to 
accept  the  round  sum  of  $50,000,000  for  the  physical  prop- 
erty and  existing  franchise  rights.  This  was  practically 
the  commissioners'  figures,  allowing  the  companies  the  greater 
part  of  their  claim  for  street  paving.  A  comparison  of  this 
amount  with  the  capitalization  of  the  companies  ($117,000,- 
000  in  1901)  shows  to  what  extent  the  capital  had  been  in- 
flated on  the  basis  of  the  claims  under  the  ninety-nine-year 
act.  Indeed,  three-fourths  of  the  stock  and  bonds  of  the 
north  and  west  side  lines  have  now  no  substantial  value. 


THE    STREET   RAILWAY   QUESTION   IN    CHICAGO  255 

While  these  valuations  were  being  determined,  negotia- 
tions proceeded  on  other  points.  Arrangements  have  been 
made  for  the  reorganization  of  the  companies  in  the  hands 
of  receivers  and  for  the  organization  of  a  new  company  — 
the  Chicago  Railways  Company  —  to  take  over  the  opera- 
tion of  the  north  and  west  side  lines  and  furnish  capital  for 
the  rehabilitation.  The  cable  roads  are  to  be  reconstructed. 
Subways  are  to  be  provided  in  the  business  district.  Exten- 
sions and  new  equipment  are  to  be  furnished.  For  this 
purpose  it  is  estimated  that  $40,000,000  will  be  needed. 
It  has  been  provided  that  this  shall  be  spent  under  the  super- 
vision of  a  board  of  engineers,  two  of  them  designated  by 
the  city.  The  companies,  however,  are  to  be  allowed  10 
per  cent  as  contractor's  profit,  and  5  per  cent  brokerage  over 
the  actual  cost  of  construction,  if  the  city  should  purchase 
the  plant. 

Arrangements  for  the  operation  of  the  lines  are  much  more 
distinctly  in  the  interest  of  the  city  and  the  public  than  in 
either  of  the  previous  tentative  ordinances.  The  companies 
are  to  operate  on  a  license  revocable  at  any  time  on  six  months' 
notice,  the  city  having  the  right  to  purchase  at  the  stipulated 
price  of  $50,000,000  for  the  existing  plant  plus  the  cost  of 
improvements.  All  of  the  lines  are  to  be  operated  as  parts 
of  one  system,  with  a  considerable  number  of  through  routes 
and  transfers  from  one  district  to  another.  The  city  is  to 
have  a  large  measure  of  control  over  the  frequency  of  service 
and  supervision  over  the  accounts  of  the  company.  And  the 
profits,  after  paying  operating  expenses,  taxes,  and  5  per 
cent  on  the  actual  investment,  are  to  be  divided,  —  55  per 
cent  to  the  city  and  45  per  cent  to  the  company.  The  plan, 
as  a  whole,  may  be  called  one  establishing  a  joint  partnership 
between  the  city  and  companies  for  the  control  and  opera- 
tion of  the  street  railways. 

By  the  middle  of  January,  1907,  the  agreement  between 
the  council  committee  and  the  representatives  of  the  com- 
panies had  been  drafted  in  the  form  of  proposed  ordinances 


256  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

and  submitted  to  the  council.  Until  the  previous  month  it 
had  seemed  probable  that  the  arrangements  would  prove 
satisfactory  to  all  parties,  and  the  ordinances  might  be  passed 
promptly.  But  in  the  latter  part  of  December  some  of  the 
more  radical  advocates  of  municipal  ownership  raised  objec- 
tions, apparently  fearing  that  improved  service  on  the  part 
of  the  companies  would  satisfy  the  public,  and  that  the  pro- 
visions for  municipal  operation  would  not  be  utilized.  It  is 
true  that  this  may  be  the  result.  But  for  the  friends  of 
municipalization  to  urge  this  seems  a  confession  of  weakness 
in  their  argument  that  any  system  of  regulation  is  bound  to 
fail.  Mayor  Dunne,  who  had  cooperated  in  the  work  of 
drafting  the  ordinances,  suddenly  joined  this  late  movement, 
which  took  the  form  of  demanding  a  popular  referendum 
on  the  proposed  ordinances.  Once  this  demand  was  made, 
however,  it  should  have  been  evident  that  it  must  be  granted ; 
and  the  attempt  of  some  supporters  of  the  agreement  to  oppose 
the  movement  was  clearly  a  tactical  error.  Petitions  calling 
for  a  referendum  were  signed  by  189,000  names;  and  it  was 
soon  acknowledged  that  this  must  be  provided. 

In  a  tense  and  dramatic  all-night  session  on  February  4-5, 
1907,  the  ordinances  came  before  the  council  for  action. 
Some  minor  amendments  were  accepted  by  the  committee 
and  adopted.  A  large  number  of  others  presented  by  the 
opponents  were  defeated.  Many  of  these  would  have  been 
to  the  interest  of  the  city  and  the  public.  But  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  company  had  declined  to  accept  them;  and,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  majority  of  the  council,  they  were  not  of 
sufficient  importance  to  cause  the  defeat  of  the  agreement 
that  had  been  reached.  Another  contest  arose  on  the  pre- 
cise form  in  which  the  referendum  should  be  submitted.  It 
is  fair  to  note  that  the  opponents  of  the  ordinance  were  all 
classed  among  the  honest,  but  not  always  among  the  most 
able,  members  of  the  council,  and  that  the  few  remaining 
"gray  wolves"  voted  with  the  majority.  Chairman  Wemo 
and  a  majority  of  the  Democratic  members  of  the  council 


THE   STREET   RAILWAY   QUESTION   IN   CHICAGO  257 

declined  to  follow  the  mayor  in  his  latest  change  of  attitude, 
and  supported  the  ordinances.  In  the  end  the  council  passed 
the  ordinances  by  a  vote  of  55  to  14,  subject  to  the  result  of 
a  referendum  at  the  municipal  election  in  April.  Mayor 
Dunne  declined  to  sign  them;  but  they  were  repassed  over 
his  veto  at  the  next  session  of  the  council. 

For  two  months,  from  the  passage  of  the  ordinances  by 
the  council  until  the  municipal  election,  the  question  as  to 
their  ratification  or  defeat  was  the  all-important  issue  before 
the  people  of  Chicago.  Around  it  centred  the  contest  for 
city  officials.  The  Republicans,  nominating  for  mayor  F.  A. 
Busse,  recently  appointed  postmaster  of  the  city,  strongly 
indorsed  the  ordinances.  The  Democrats,  renominating 
Mayor  Dunne,  declared  in  favor  of  municipalization  through 
condemnation  proceedings.  But  party  lines  were  not  strictly 
followed;  and  notably  a  majority  of  the  Democratic  alder- 
men, while  supporting  their  party  candidates,  were  also  in 
favor  of  the  ordinances.  Other  questions,  which  it  is  not 
necessary  to  consider  here,  also  entered  to  some  extent  into 
the  campaign  for  city  officers.  In  the  outcome  the  ordinances 
were  approved  by  a  vote  of  165,846  to  132,720;  while  Mr. 
Busse  and  most  of  the  Republican  ticket  were  elected  by 
much  smaller  pluralities. 

On  April  18  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois  rendered  a 
decision  in  the  case  involving  the  validity  of  the  Miiller 
law  certificates,  and  held  that  these  certificates  must  be  in- 
cluded as  part  of  the  city  debt,  inasmuch  as  they  were  to 
be  guaranteed  by  a  right  to  operate  street  railways  as  well 
as  by  the  physical  property  of  the  roads.  This  ruling,  with 
the  existing  limitations  on  city  debt,  make  it  practically 
impossible  for  the  city  to  purchase  or  build  a  strictly  mu- 
nicipal railway  without  a  change  in  the  state  constitution; 
and  the  provisions  in  the  new  agreement  for  municipal  pur- 
chase will  therefore  be  inoperative.  It  will  be  possible, 
however,  under  the  agreement,  for  the  city  to  transfer  the 
rights  to  other  licensee  companies,  on  payment  for  the  value 


258  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

of  the  property,  with  20   per  cent  in  addition,  if  transferred 
to  another  profit-making  company  within  twenty  years. 

Since  the  ratification  of  the  ordinances  the  Chicago  City 
Railway  Company  has  completed  the  agreement  for  the 
south  side  lines.  But  some  holders  of  bonds  of  the  north  and 
west  side  lines  declined  to  accept  the  reduced  value  of  their 
securities  and  have  caused  further  delay  in  executing  the 
new  arrangements  in  those  parts  of  the  city.  The  council 
granted  an  extension  of  the  time  for  accepting  the  ordinances 
imtil  February  1 ;  and  it  is  expected  that  arrangements  will 
be  completed  before  that  date. 


In  attempting  to  draw  some  general  conclusions  from  this 
contest,  which  rivals  in  duration  and  interest  the  Trojan 
War,  it  is  necessary  to  emphasize  some  points  that  are  likely 
to  be  overlooked,  if  attention  is  paid  only  to  the  latest  stage 
in  the  conflict.  In  the  first  place,  the  duration  of  the  con- 
troversy is  evidence  of  the  tenacity  of  purpose  on  the  part 
of  the  people  of  Chicago  in  resisting  the  efforts  of  the  finan- 
cial promoters  to  perpetuate  their  control.  The  public 
policy  votes  on  the  earlier  tentative  ordinances  showed  that 
no  franchise  drawn  on  the  traditional  American  lines  would 
be  acceptable. 

In  the  second  place,  it  will  be  a  mistake  to  assume  that 
the  adoption  of  these  ordinances  indicated  that  the  popular 
demand  for  municipalization  was  merely  a  temporary  wave 
of  sentiment,  which  is  now  fast  receding.  The  demand  for 
municipalization  was  indeed  aroused  by  the  intolerable  ser- 
vice and  the  hostile  attitude  of  the  companies,  and,  so  long  as 
the  companies  maintained  their  former  position,  municipali- 
zation seemed  to  be  the  only  alternative  policy.  But  it  must 
not  be  overlooked  that  the  actual  vote  against  the  ordinances 
was  almost  as  large  as  the  first  vote  for  municipal  ownership 
in  1902,  and  larger  than  either  of  the  subsequent  votes  in 
favor  of  municipalization.    The  latest  vote  indicates  that  the 


THE    STREET  RAILWAY   QUESTION   IN   CHICAGO  259 

ordinances  have  been  approved  by  the  action  of  those  who 
were  not  willing  to  vote  in  former  years  for  municipalization 
but  were  also  not  willing  to  vote  for  any  of  the  alternative 
plans  then  presented. 

In  the  third  place,  as  stated  at  the  outset,  these  ordinances 
set  a  new  standard  in  the  relations  between  street  railway 
companies  and  public  authorities  in  this  country.  They 
establish  on  a  new  basis  the  old  doctrine  of  public  ownership 
of  the  streets,  and  effective  public  control  over  any  private 
company  which  receives  special  privileges  in  the  public 
highways.  The  revocable  license  is  a  much  more  tangible 
feature  than  the  nominal  power  of  revocation  in  Massachusetts 
franchises,  as  in  the  Chicago  ordinances  there  are  explicit 
means  provided  by  which  the  lines  can  be  taken  from  the 
companies  with  whom  the  present  agreement  is  made.  And 
the  division  of  profits,  supplementing  the  system  of  public 
control,  makes  the  city  in  fact  an  active  partner  in  the  street 
railway  business. 

As  to  the  future,  the  firm  believers  in  and  the  convinced 
opponents  of  municipalization  will  each  have  their  own 
predictions.  The  writer  believes  that  there  is  a  fair  promise 
that,  if  the  companies  carry  out  their  part  of  the  agreement 
and  cooperate  heartily  with  the  city  authorities,  there  will 
be  no  further  steps  in  the  direction  of  municipalization  for 
many  years.  But  if  the  service  is  not  brought  promptly 
to  a  satisfactory  standard,  or  if  there  should  be  a  revival  of 
the  policy  of  speculative  finance  or  political  manipulation, 
the  city  will  not  remain  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  the  present 
companies.  In  that  case  there  may  be  a  trial  of  the  so- 
called  "contract  plan,"  by  which  the  street  railways  would 
be  transferred  to  a  licensee  corporation  acting  as  trustee  for 
the  city.  Or  it  is  not  impossible  that  the  state  constitution 
may  be  amended  to  provide  an  effective  means  for  munici- 
palization. 


260  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 

There  is  a  voluminous  mass  of  printed  material  on  the  Chicago 
Street  Railways,  but  it  is  widely  scattered,  and  there  is  no  complete 
collection  in  one  place.  Among  primary  sources  may  be  mentioned 
the  official  records  of  the  Illinois  State  legislature  and  the  City  Council 
of  Chicago,  and  the  judicial  reports  on  the  litigated  questions.  The 
most  important  documents  have  also  been  reprinted,  and  in  addition 
there  have  been  scores  of  pamphlets  and  articles  in  periodicals.  A 
list  of  documents,  pamphlets,  and  longer  articles,  excluding  items  in 
the  daily  and  weekly  press,  would  contain  more  than  a  hundred  titles, 
and  only  the  more  important  among  them  are  given  in  the  following 
list. 

Official  Documents :  — 
Mayor  Carter  H.  Harrison :  Special  Message,  January  6,  1902,  and 
Annual  Messages,  May  25,  1903,  April  11,  1904,  and  April  10, 
1905. 
Mayor  Edward  F.  Dunne :  Annual  Messages,  April  11,  1906,  and 
April  15,  1907.    Letter  to  Alderman  Charles  Wemo,  April  27, 
1906. 
Coxmcil  Committees : — 
Report  of  the  Special  Committee  of  the  City  Council  of  Chicago 

on  Street  Railway  Franchises,  March,  1898. 
Report  of  the  Street  Railway  Commission,  December,  1900. 
Report  of  the  Special  Committee  on  Local  Transportation,  out- 
lining the  provisions  of  a  renewal  ordinance,  December,  1901. 
An  ordinance  granting  rights  to  the  Chicago  City  Railway  Com- 
pany (tentative  ordinance),  July  23,  1904. 
Report  of  the  Committee  on  Local  Transportation,  and  ordinances, 
January  15,  1907. 
Bion  J.  Arnold:   Reports  on  Engineering  and  Operating  Features 

of  the  Chicago  Transportation  Problem,  1902-1906. 
Traction  Valuation  Commission:    Report  on  the  Values  of  the 
Tangible  and  Intangible  Properties  of  the  Chicago  Street  Rail- 
way Companies,  December  10,  1906. 
Judicial  Reports: 
Circuit  Court  of  the  United  Stfites :  Guaranty  Trust  Co.  v.  Chicago 

Union  Traction  Co.,  etc.,  1903  (over  20  vols.). 
Supreme  Comt  of  the  United  States :  H.  A.  Blair  et  al.  v.  City  of 

Chicago,  and  other  cases,  201  U.S.  400  (1906). 
Supreme  Court  of  Illinois :  Lobdell  et  al.  v.  City  of  Chicago  (1907). 


THE   STREET  RAILWAY   QUESTION   IN   CHICAGO  261 

Special  Pamphlets :  — 

History  and   Statistics  of  Chicago  Street  Railway  Corporations 

(Supplement  to  the  Economist),  52  pp.     Maps.     Chicago,  1896. 
List  of  Franchises,  1837-1896.    Chicago,  J.  F.  Higgins,  1896. 
Illinois  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics :  The  Street  Railways  of  Chicago 

and  Other  Cities  (1897). 

Articles  in  Periodicals:  — 

Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  XII,  83  (J.  H.  Gray). 
Municipal  Affairs,  V,  439-594  (Report  of  the  Civic  Federation). 
National  Conference  for  Good  City  Government,   1902   (George  C. 

Sikes). 
Atlantic  Monthly,  XCIII,  109  (E.  B.  Smith). 
American  Law  Review,  XXXIX,  244. 
Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Social  and  Political  Science, 

XX,  356;   XXVII,  72;  XXIX,  385. 
International  Quarterly,  XII,  13  (C.  S.  Darrow). 
Review  of  Reviews,  XXXIII,  549. 

Three  collections  of  material  of  special  value  should  be  noted :  (1) 
that  of  Professor  John  H.  Gray,  of  Northwestern  University  (the  best 
single  collection),  which  includes  the  voluminous  record  of  the  Cir- 
cuit Court  proceedings,  two  large  bound  volumes  of  documents  and 
miscellaneous  pamphlets,  and  a  manuscript  thesis  by  George  B,  Good- 
win on  "The  History  of  the  Chicago  Street  Railways";  (2)  that  of 
the  John  Crerar  Library,  which  includes  a  bound  volume  of  docu- 
ments, pamphlets,  and  newspaper  clippings  connected  with  the 
Humphrey-Allen  Bills  of  1897,  by  George  E.  Hooker,  a  box  of  pam- 
phlets, and  also  other  documents  separately  catalogued ;  and  (3)  that 
of  the  City  Club  of  Chicago,  which  includes  two  boxes  of  miscellaneous 
documents  and  pamphlets.  While  there  is  some  dupUcation  each  of 
these  contains  important  material  not  in  the  others.  There  are,  in 
addition,  a  good  number  of  pamphlets  and  special  reports  not  in  any 
of  these  collections. 


XIII 

SOME   CONSIDERATIONS   ON   MUNICIPAL   OWNER- 
SHIP OF  PUBLIC  UTILITIES^ 

In  the  constantly  accelerating  public  discussion  on  the 
question  of  municipal  ownership  in  this  country,  the  two 
radically  opposing  views  have  been  becoming  more  and 
more  predominant.  On  one  the  hand  is  the  propaganda 
for  immediate  and  universal  municipalization,  as  the  next 
great  step  in  social  and  political  reform.  On  the  other  side 
is  the  conservative  or  reactionary  attitude  that  opposes  any 
movement  in  the  direction  of  collectivism.  These  extreme 
views  are  not  only  expressed  in  most  of  the  ephemeral  politi- 
cal and  newspaper  debates,  but  are  well  exemplified  in  two 
recent  books,  F.  C.  Howe's,  The  City  the  Hope  of  Democracy 
and  H.  R.  Meyer's,  Municipal  Ovmership  in  Great  Britain. 

In  spite  of  their  antagonism,  both  of  these  views  have  this 
in  common:  they  assume  that  the  question  is  one  which 
can  be  dogmatically  answered  either  in  the  affirmative  or  the 
negative;  that  the  problems  can  be  settled  by  a  universal 
rule  expressed  in  a  brief  formula.  There  is  also  the  tendency 
on  the  part  of  the  supporters  of  each  dogma  to  assume  that 
the  view  they  adopt  has  an  ethical  basis;  and  their  views 
are  therefore  expressed  in  the  categorical  imperative,  with 
little  or  no  qualifications. 

This  common  feature  in  the  recent  discussion  is  one  which 
is  full  of  serious  danger  to  a  wise  solution  of  the  situation. 
A  careful  study  shows  rather  that  there  is  no  such  simple 
answer;  that  the  problem  contains  many  conflicting  factors, 
whether  examined  in  the  light  of  general  principles  or  by  the 
study  of  detailed  facts.  And  it  is  only  by  recognizing  these 
conflicts  and  difficulties  that  any  satisfactory  conclusion  can 
be  reached. 

*  An  address  delivered  in  Chicago  (1905)  and  Buffalo  (1906). 

262 


MUNICIPAL    OWNERSHIP    OF   PUBLIC    UTILITIES  263 

Some  confusion  might  be  expected  from  the  vagueness  of 
the  term  "public  utility,"  which  is  supposed  to  include  the 
various  undertakings  proposed  to  be  brought  imder  municipal 
management.  And  in  carrying  out  a  policy  of  municipali- 
zation it  would  become  necessary  to  define  more  exactly  what 
this  phrase  embraces.  But  at  the  present  stage  of  discus- 
sion it  is  enough  to  know  that  it  includes  such  enterprises  as 
waterworks,  lighting  plants,  street  railways  and  telephones, 
which  make  use  of  the  public  streets,  and  for  which  a  special 
franchise  must  be  granted  to  a  private  company  by  some 
public  authority.  Practically  in  the  United  States  at  the 
present  time  the  question  is  one  concerning  lighting  plants 
and  street  railways. 

In  reference  to  such  undertakings  a  brief  consideration 
will  show  that  either  complete  municipalization  or  uncon- 
trolled private  management  involves  a  departure  from  the 
older  established  and  generally  accepted  limits  between 
public  and  private  activity.  The  radical  socialistic  and  the 
extreme  individualists  will  each  differ  from  this  view  on  the 
basis  of  their  general  principles.  But  on  the  basis  of  exist- 
ing methods  about  which  there  is  little  complaint  the  under- 
takings proposed  to  be  municipalized  involve  on  the  one 
hand  certain  public  interests  similar  to  those  under  govern- 
ment management,  and  at  the  same  time  certain  methods  of 
management  identified  with  private  business. 

On  the  side  of  public  interest,  all  of  the  undertakings  in 
mind  agree  in  occupying  in  a  special  manner  and  practically 
to  the  exclusion  of  others  the  public  highways,  which  are 
recognized  as  ordinarily  exempt  from  private  ownership  by 
the  same  common  law  which  established  the  legal  basis  of 
private  ownership  in  other  property.  And  this  public  inter- 
est is  clearly  recognized  by  the  established  procedure  which 
requires  a  grant  from  the  sovereign  authority  of  the  state  to 
establish  the  special  rights  of  any  private  company  in  the 
streets  and  roads. 

In  addition  to  this,  many  of  these  undertakings  involve 


264  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

public  interests  recognized  even  within  the  "police"  theory 
of  government.  Street  lighting,  both  in  its  historical  devel- 
opment and  practical  operation,  is  an  important  means  of 
maintaining  order  and  public  safety.  And  public  control  of 
this  is  as  logical  as  public  control  of  the  police  force.  Water 
supply  is  a  fundamental  factor  in  public  sanitation  and  fire 
protection ;  and  public  control  for  these  purposes  is  justified, 
on  the  same  basis  as  other  public  administration  for  the 
protection  of  the  public  health  or  the  protection  of  property. 

Other  services  affect  the  public  interest  in  ways  that  are 
more  open  to  discussion;  and  raise  questions  as  to  the  limits 
of  public  action  for  amelioriating  the  condition  of  the  poorer 
classes,  which  need  not  be  examined  at  this  time.  But  from 
what  has  been  said,  it  must  be  clear  that  the  public  interests 
involved  are  beyond  question.  With  these  pubHc  interests 
it  follows  that  a  private  company  operating  such  services  is 
to  some  extent  exercising  a  function  recognized  as  govern- 
mental. And  if  these  factors  were  all  that  need  be  considered, 
a  prima  facie  case  for  municipal  administration  of  such  public 
utilities  would  seem  to  have  the  same  basis  of  public  policy 
as  for  such  services  as  the  police  force,  or  the  administration 
of  tax  laws,  or  for  the  national  management  of  the  army  and 
navy. 

But  there  are  other  considerations  to  be  noted.  The  most 
important  is  that,  for  a  large  part  of  each  service  the  self- 
interest  and  ability  of  individual  consumers  permit  of  charges 
based  on  consumption  without  the  sacrifice  of  essential 
public  interests.  This  results  not  only  in  making  the  conduct 
of  the  services  approximate  closely  to  private  commercial 
bargain  and  sale,  but  also  in  giving  opportunity  for  the 
development  of  business  through  the  peculiar  ability  brought 
out  almost  exclusively  under  the  stress  of  individual  initiative 
and  private  competition.  .  Sometimes  the  management  of 
the  large  force  of  employees  and  the  complexity  of  the  tech- 
nical manufacturing  processes  subject  to  new  inventions  are 
named  as  factors  in  emphasizing  the  similarity  of  these  services 


MUNICIPAL    OWNERSHIP    OF    PUBLIC   UTILITIES  265 

to  private  business;  but  it  may  be  questioned  whether  these 
are  much,  if  any,  more  peculiar  to  these  utilities  than  to  some 
clearly  accepted  branches  of  pubhc  administration,  such  as 
the  military  and  naval  service.  But  the  factors  previously 
noted  are  sufficient  to  stamp  these  services  as  analogous  in 
important  respects  to  private  business.  So  that  municipal 
undertakings  in  these  respects  are  clearly  entering  the  field 
heretofore  left  to  individual  enterprise. 

It  is  thus  evident  from  this  brief  survey  of  the  general 
principles  involved  that  these  public  utilities,  as  a  class,  have 
a  dual  aspect,  and  that  either  municipal  or  private  manage- 
ment involves  encroachment  in  the  usually  recognized  domain 
of  the  other. 

Turning  next  to  the  specific  services,  it  may  be  asked 
whether  these  differ  among  themselves  and  to  what  extent,  in 
the  relative  degree  of  public  and  private  interests  involved  ? 
Such  differences  do  exist;  and  a  few  points  on  this  aspect 
of  the  question  may  be  here  noted.  In  regard  to  the  water 
supply  the  public  interests  are  most  numerous  and  most 
constant.  Not  only  are  the  streets  occupied  and  is  a  public 
supply  essential  for  fire  protection,  but  the  supply  to  the 
great  body  of  private  consumers  is  a  matter  of  vital  interest 
to  the  pubhc  health  of  the  community;  while  in  most  large 
<3ities  an  adequate  supply  can  be  secured  only  by  the  exercise 
of  the  governmental  power  of  eminent  domain.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  private  business  aspects,  although  not  lack- 
ing, are  less  important  than  for  other  services.  Gas  and 
electric  light  services  clearly  demonstrate  the  conflicting 
forces.  For  street  lighting,  the  general  principle  in  favor 
of  public  administration  has  the  same  basis  as  for  public 
administration  of  the  police  force.  For  light  sold  to  pri- 
vate consumers,  municipal  administration  would  seem  to 
set  an  example  for  the  municipalization  of  every  commodity 
and  service.  But  a  dual  service  involves  an  unnecessary 
duplication  of  expense  in  the  construction  of  plants  and 
€quipment ;  and  the  economical  advantages  of  a  single  system 


266  ESSAYS    IN    MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

for  both  public  and  private  lighting  are  too  great  to  be  per- 
manently ignored. 

In  regard  to  street  railways,  the  use  of  public  streets  is 
more  pronounced  and  significant  than  for  the  other  services, 
and  if  municipal  ownership  of  the  tracks  without  municipal 
operation  were  a  satisfactory  permanent  solution,  the  public 
interests  would  point  toward  that  solution  as  a  general 
principle.  But  the  operation  of  street  railways  offers  special 
advantages  for  exceptional  business  management;  and 
ownership  and  operation  by  the  same  body  seems  almost 
essential;  while  in  most  American  cities  the  development 
of  interurban  lines  adds  another  difficulty  to  municipal 
management. 

The  telephone  service  has  the  least  claim  of  the  utilities 
considered  to  special  public  interests,  as  its  use  is  limited  to 
a  part  of  the  population  and  is  not  so  essential  as  any  of  the 
other  services.  But  even  here,  the  franchise  in  the  public 
streets  and  the  unmistakable  advantages  of  a  single  system 
in  each  city  make  necessary  some  public  supervision. 

Other  factors  vitally  affecting  the  question  are  the  moral 
principles  and  practices  of  those  controlling  these  important 
public  services.  Here  the  most  obvious  and  most  generally 
recognized  facts  are  the  prevalence  of  ignorant  officials, 
"spoils  politics"  and  even  more  flagrant  methods  of  corrup- 
tion and  dishonesty  in  American  municipal  administration. 
There  can  be  no  question  that  these  are  most  deplorable 
evils  in  our  municipal  government  and  most  serious  obstacles 
to  any  extension  of  municipal  functions.  Until  the  worst 
abuses  are  eliminated,  and  political  and  personal  favor  in 
appointments  is  reduced  to  its  lowest  terms,  there  can  be  no 
successful  municipal  management  of  public  utilities,  or  of 
any  public  services.  Against  the  grosser  forms  of  corrup- 
tion there  seems  to  be  a  general  awakening;  and  there  is 
some  ground  for  hope  that  these  may  largely  disappear. 
There  is  also  a  growing  public  sentiment  in  favor  of  per- 
manent expert  public  servants  which  leads  to  laws  regulating 


MUNICIPAL   OWNERSHIP   OF  PUBLIC   UTILITIES  267 

the  civil  service  on  the  model  of  the  national  system.  This 
method  is  a  vast  improvement  over  the  older  custom  of 
rotating  political  favorites ;  and  seems  to  be  the  most  practi- 
cable way  of  changing  our  system.  But  it  has  defects  in 
operation;  and  there  is  need  for  a  further  development  of 
public  opinion  in  regard  to  offices  not  in  the  "competitive 
class,"  such  as  generally  prevails  successfully  in  regard  to 
our  judges. 

Opponents  of  municipal  ownership,  however,  are  apt  to 
assume  that  the  dangers  of  corruption  and  the  spoils  system 
are  confined  to  public  administration;  and  that  a  system 
of  private  ownership  entirely  obviates  these  evils.  But 
a  regime  of  dishonesty  and  low  moral  standards  in  public 
office  cannot  continue  long  except  through  the  connivance 
and  even  the  active  assistance  of  a  large  part  of  the  business 
community.  Many  of  the  worst  cases  of  municipal  corrup- 
tion have  been  in  connection  with  the  granting  of  special 
franchises  to  private  companies;  and  the  wisest  political 
bosses  find  their  largest  gains,  not  in  municipal  works,  but 
in  their  "private  business"  enterprises.  Recent  disclosures 
emphasize  the  danger  of  overpraising  "business  methods" 
in  contrast  with  political  standards;  but  the  records  of  our 
judicial  courts  —  more  numerous  and  more  crowded  with 
cases,  mostly  civil,  than  those  of  other  countries  —  have  long 
been  a  standing  witness  to  the  need  of  some  control  over  the 
dealings  of  business  men  with  each  other,  in  order  to  secure 
justice  and  fair  dealing.  The  most  serious  aspect  of  public 
corruption  is  that  it  threatens  to  destroy  the  machinery 
intended  to  suppress  the  inevitable  private  dishonesty.  So, 
too,  the  "spoils  system"  can  and  does  exist  in  full  vigor  in 
the  public  utilities  of  not  a  few  cities  under  private  manage- 
ment. But  the  argument  now  offered  that  political  corrup- 
tion is  due  mainly  to  the  franchise  corporations,  and  will 
disappear  under  a  regime  of  municipal  ownership  and  opera- 
tion is  far  too  sweeping,  and  ignores  other  sources  of  mu- 
nicipal mismanagement.     The  only  remedy  for  these  evils  in 


268  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

both  municipal  and  private  management  is  the  development 
of  higher  standards  of  public  morality. 

Whatever  light  on  the  question  may  be  shown  by  these 
general  considerations  must  be  tested  and  corrected  by  the 
practical  results  of  experience.  It  is  not  possible,  however, 
to  consider  in  detail  in  this  paper  the  records  of  private  and 
municipal  undertakings  in  these  fields,  even  if  the  facts 
for  a  thorough  and  unbiassed  study  were  available.  But 
some  points  of  criticism  may  be  made  on  much  of  the 
current  discussion  along  this  line  on  both  sides  of  the  question; 
and  a  few  tendencies  and  specific  examples  can  be  noted. 

An  immense  amount  of  argument  based  on  elaborate 
statistical  studies  has  been  published  on  the  successes  and 
failures  of  municipal  undertakings  as  compared  with  those 
in  private  hands.  One  of  the  gravest  defects  of  this  work, 
so  far  as  concerns  American  cities,  has  been  the  deplorable 
system  of  municipal  accounts,  which  make  it  impossible  in 
most  cases  to  secure  any  reliable  and  complete  data  for  a 
study  of  municipal  undertakings.  Usually  the  bulk  of  the  cost 
of  constructing  such  works  (mostly  for  water-supply  and 
electric  lighting)  has  been  met  by  bonds  issued  on  the  general 
credit  of  the  city,  and  paid  out  of  the  general  funds  of  the 
city.  The  accounts  for  a  particular  undertaking  usually 
show  little  more  than  the  current  expenses  for  maintenance 
against  the  annual  income.  Such  accounts  easily  show 
a  large  profit  for  the  municipal  undertaking.  Nowadays 
the  wisest  friends  of  municipal  ownership  recognize  that 
to  the  maintenance  expenses  there  must  be  made  a  charge 
for  interest  on  the  cost  of  construction;  but  there  are  other 
items  more  elusive,  which  should  also  be  included.  The 
taxes  and  franchise  payments  lost  to  the  city  as  a  result 
of  municipal  ownership  must  be  added;  and  also  charges 
on  account  of  depreciation,  which  last  is  the  most  difficult 
to  make  with  any  degree  of  accuracy.  Some  writers,  ob- 
viously interested  in  making  a  case  against  municipal  owner- 
ship, insist  in  adding  also  a  sinking-fund  charge;  but  if  the 


MUNICIPAL   OWNERSHIP   OF  PUBLIC   UTILITIES  269 

depreciation  allowance  is  adequate,  this  is  no  more  necessary 
than  it  is  for  a  private  corporation  to  pay  ofif  its  capital  from 
its  earnings. 

Accounts  of  large  private  corporations  are  doubtless  more 
accurately  kept  in  most  cases  than  those  for  municipal 
finances.  But  this  does  not  prove  of  much  benefit  to  the 
student  of  this  question,  since  these  accounts  are  usually 
not  accessible  to  any  but  those  actively  connected  with  the 
management  of  the  companies.  So  that  on  this  side  public 
access  to  these  accounts  is  a  necessary  prerequisite  to  any 
thorough  comparison  of  municipal  and  private  management. 
Generally,  too,  the  accounts  of  private  corporations  do  not 
discriminate  between  the  actual  investment  in  the  plant,  and 
the  amount  of  securities  issued  as  capital,  while  it  is  well 
known  that  the  latter  is  often  inflated  on  the  basis  of  exces- 
sive earnings.  There  is,  however,  one  test  of  serious  private 
mismanagement  —  it  is  likely  to  result  in  a  business  failure. 
And  this  has  been  known  to  occur  even  in  the  case  of  com- 
panies operating  public  utilities. 

Some  general  tendencies  as  to  the  financial  results  of  mu- 
nicipal and  private  management  may,  however,  be  noted.  A 
well-managed  private  company  is  very  likely  to  secure  more 
efficiency  in  the  actual  work  of  operation  than  the  best-man- 
aged municipal  plant.  The  private  company  is  willing  to 
pay  higher  wages  for  superintendence  and  thus  secures  a 
higher  grade  of  ability,  and  in  consequence  a  stricter  control 
over  its  employees  and  a  smaller  proportion  of  waste.  At 
the  same  time  it  may  also  make  some  saving  in  the  individual 
wages  paid  to  employees,  and  still  more  in  the  aggregate 
wages. 

All  of  this  should  enable  the  private  company  to  furnish 
a  better  or  a  cheaper  service  than  a  municipal  plant.  But 
the  motive  for  the  higher  efficiency  and  greater  economy  is 
undoubtedly  the  desire  for  larger  returns  to  the  stockholders. 
And  in  so  far  as  such  larger  returns  are  paid,  the  municipality 
has  a  countervailing  advantage  in  the  lower  rates  of  interest 


270  ESSAYS   IN    MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

at  which  it  borrows  funds.  The  important  and  difficult 
question  to  determine  the  net  result  is  which  of  these  factors 
is  the  more  effective  in  a  particular  instance.  So  far  as  the 
consumer  is  concerned,  the  interest  and  dividends  are  as 
much  a  part  of  the  cost  of  production  as  the  expenses  of  main- 
tenance and  operation. 

It  should  be  observed  that  this  economic  argument  applies 
logically  not  merely  to  the  disputed  public  utilities,  but  also 
to  the  accepted  municipal  services.  If  private  management  is 
on  the  whole  more  effective,  then  it  would  probably  be  more 
economical  for  a  city  to  make  a  contract  for  a  term  of  years 
with  a  private  company  for  its  police  force  and  fire  depart- 
ment, or  even  for  the  national  government  to  lease  the  man- 
agement of  its  army  and  navy  to  a  syndicate  of  capitalists. 

Another  method  of  comparing  the  results  of  municipal 
and  private  administration  is  by  examining  the  services  ren- 
dered to  the  community.  But  here,  too,  many  of  the  com- 
parisons are  on  an  inadequate  basis,  and  the  conclusions 
are  largely  misleading.  The  prices  charged  for  gas  by  the 
municipal  works  in  Great  Britain  and  Germany  have  been 
compared  with  those  charged  by  private  plants  in  this  country, 
without  making  any  allowance  for  differences  in  wages  or  the 
cost  of  raw  materials.  Street  railway  fares  under  the  Euro- 
pean zone  system  are  compared  with  the  American  uniform 
rate,  —  municipal  ownership  advocates  citing  the  lowest 
zone  rate,  and  the  opponents  emphasizing  the  maximum 
distance  that  can  be  travelled  for  a  single  fare.  The  volume 
of  business  for  particular  services  is  compared,  without  con- 
sidering the  effect  of  related  services,  such  as  gas  and  electric 
lighting,  or  the  relative  development  of  street  railway  traffic 
and  the  local  traffic  of  steam  railroads. 

But  there  can  be  no  exact  comparison  of  such  incommen- 
surable quantities;  while  the  differences  in  methods  are  due 
very  largely  to  local  customs  and  not  to  the  municipal  or 
private  system  of  management.  American  cities  usually 
make  a  uniform  charge  for  water-supply  except  to  the  largest 


MUNICIPAL    OWNERSHIP    OF   PUBLIC   UTILITIES  271 

consumers,  on  much  the  same  line  as  the  uniform  street  rail- 
way fare;  while  European  cities  measure  their  water-supply 
as  they  do  their  street  railway  service.  There  would  seem 
to  be  some  connection  between  the  uniform  rate  and  the 
enormous  development  of  both  of  those  services  in  American 
over  European  cities.  But  some  writers  construe  similar 
results  in  one  case  as  evidence  of  superior  private  business 
management  of  street  railways;  and  in  the  other  as  proof 
of  municipal  waste  and  mismanagement  of  water-supply. 
No  doubt  in  both  cases  the  American  method  is  extravagant 
and  practical  only  in  a  rich  country;  while  it  also  permits 
a  wider  distribution  of  social  benefits  from  these  public 
utilities. 

A  few  words  may  be  added,  summarizing  what  can  be 
said  at  present  after  comparing  the  results  of  municipal  and 
private  management  in  different  countries.  In  the  United 
States  the  main  experience  has  been  with  waterworks.  In 
this  field  most  of  our  large  cities  have  furnished  an  adequate 
supply,  and  the  financial  reports  indicate  that  the  income 
usually  is  sufficient  to  pay  not  only  operating  expenses,  but 
interest  and  other  charges.  On  the  other  hand,  there  have 
been  extravagance  and  corruption  in  connection  with  several 
construction  works ;  some  large  cities  have  been  grossly  negli- 
gent in  dealing  with  the  sanitary  problems ;  and  in  one  or  two 
cases  (notably  Cincinnati)  the  revenue  is  clearly  inadequate 
to  meet  the  direct  charges.  As  to  lighting  plants,  reference 
may  be  made  to  the  notorious  failure  of  the  Philadelphia 
municipal  gas  plant;  and  to  the  equally  clear  success  of 
Detroit  with  a  municipal  plant  for  public  electric  lighting  as 
illustrating  the  absence  of  any  uniform  result. 

In  Great  Britain  and  Germany  there  has  been  a  much 
greater  development  of  municipal  ownership  and  operation. 
And  in  both  countries  the  financial  reports  show  that  these 
are  usually  operated  without  loss  (after  making  due  allow- 
ances); and  in  some  cases  yield  a  considerable  profit  to  the 
relief  of  the  tax-payers.     Where  changes  have  been  made 


272  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

recently,  it  seems  clear  in  most  cases  that  the  municipality 
is  giving  better  service  than  the  private  company  gave  in  the 
same  community.  But  these  services  are  very  much  less 
developed  than  in  this  country  under  private  management; 
and  the  claim  is  made  that  private  companies,  if  encouraged, 
would  surpass  the  municipalities.  In  one  line,  that  of  build- 
ing improved  dwelling  houses  for  the  poorer  classes,  even  the 
British  cities  have  not  succeeded  in  carrying  on  the  under- 
takings without  a  loss;  and  unless  this  loss  can  be  fairly 
charged  to  the  account  of  pubhc  sanitation  or  charities,  this 
form  of  municipal  ownership  cannot  in  any  way  be  classed 
as  a  success. 

No  discussion  of  the  question  of  municipal  ownership  in 
the  United  States  would  be  complete  without  some  reference 
to  the  practical  difficulties  and  legal  obstacles  which  stand 
in  the  way  of  any  sudden  change  of  policy.  These  difficulties 
are  the  existing  franchises  and  the  limitations  on  municipal 
debts. 

Existing  franchises  cannot  be  ignored.  They  must  either 
be  purchased  at  their  full  value,  making  it  more  difficult  for 
a  city  to  improve  conditions  than  if  it  could  start  with  a  free 
field;  or  municipal  ownership  must  be  postponed  until  they 
have  expired.  When  franchises  expire  at  different  times, 
it  is  difficult  to  make  a  complete  transfer  at  one  time;  and 
it  is  advisable  that  franchises  for  the  same  purpose  should 
be  granted  for  such  periods  as  will  cause  expiration  at  the 
same  date. 

So  far  as  debt  limits  are  concerned,  our  present  system  is 
purely  arbitrary,  and  fails  to  discriminate  between  debts  for 
different  purposes.  A  debt  incurred  for  a  self-sustaining 
undertaking  does  not  impose  the  same  burden  on  the  property 
owners  as  a  debt  to  be  paid  from  taxation ;  and  there  is  much 
to  be  said  in  favor  of  excluding  the  former  from  the  debt 
limits.  But  it  is  not  always  certain  whether  a  given  under- 
taking will  be  self-sustaining ;  and  it  would  be  a  grave  danger 
to  allow  cities  unlimited  borrowing  power  for  undertakings 


MUNICIPAL   OWNERSHIP   OP  PUBLIC   UTILITIES  273 

which,  if  unsuccessful,  would  lay  a  heavy  burden  on  the  tax- 
payers. It  has  therefore  been  suggested  that  loans  for  munici- 
pal industries  shall  be  secured  simply  by  a  mortgage  on  the 
proposed  plants ;  and  this  was  the  method  proposed  for  the 
Chicago  street  railways.  Such  a  plan  seems  a  reasonable 
method  of  allowing  cities  to  make  the  experiment  of  munici- 
palization. It  is  a  Umited  sort  of  municipal  ownership; 
since  if  the  city  fails,  it  cannot  maintain  the  industry  at  the 
expense  of  the  tax-payers,  but  must  allow  the  mortgagees  to 
foreclose  and  reestablish  private  management.  But  just 
because  it  is  limited  in  this  way  it  would  compel  each  city 
to  prove  itself  capable  of  good  management  in  order  to  main- 
tain the  municipal  system.  This  power  would  simply  give 
cities  the  same  authority  now  possessed  by  private  individuals 
to  limit  their  liability  for  each  undertaking  by  forming  private 
corporations ;  and  would  place  the  city  in  a  stronger  position 
in  granting  franchises. 

In  conclusion,  no  simple  dogmatic  doctrine  can  be  asserted 
now,  establishing  a  universal  policy  for  American  cities  on 
this  subject.  It  is  a  problem  to  be  settled  by  each  city  for 
itself,  very  largely  on  the  basis  of  peculiar  local  conditions, 
and  probably  with  different  solutions  with  regard  to  the 
various  utilities.  We  may  expect  municipal  waterworks  to 
become  more  general  than  at  present,  and  probably  there 
will  be  a  steady  increase  in  municipal  lighting  plants.  But 
no  city  should  change  to  a  municipal  system  without  a  care- 
ful study  of  the  local  situation. 

Since,  however,  it  is  a  question  whose  answer  depends  on 
local  conditions,  each  city  should  have  the  legal  authority 
to  determine  its  own  pohcy  subject  to  such  limitations  on 
its  financial  powers  as  have  been  indicated.  Where  franchises 
are  granted  to  private  corporations,  they  should  be  framed 
with  more  regard  to  the  public  interests  than  has  been  the 
case  in  most  of  the  earlier  franchises  in  this  country.  Pres- 
ent tendencies  are  toward  short-term  franchises  (twenty  to 
twenty-five  years)  with  provisions  as  to  rates  and  service; 


274  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

but  it  may  be  suggested  that  with  a  more  continuing  public 
control  over  rates  and  service  and  a  clear  power  on  the  part 
of  cities  to  purchase  the  plants  at  a  fair  valuation,  the  limita- 
tion on  the  duration  of  the  franchise  is  of  less  importance. 
There  is  also  a  tendency  to  exact  compensation  from  fran- 
chise companies,  although  the  revenue  secured  is  often  less 
than  under  a  strict  system  of  taxation.  One  of  the  most 
important  changes  that  is  necessary  is  a  clear  recognition  of 
the  distinction  between  compensation  and  taxation;  and  if 
the  companies  pay  their  full  share  of  taxes,  there  is  much  to 
be  said  in  favor  of  securing  lower  charges  and  better  service 
rather  than  any  additional  compensation  to  the  city  for  its 
franchises.  Lastly,  under  either  public  or  private  manage- 
ment, there  is  one  essential  need  for  a  complete  and  uniform 
system  of  accounting  under  public  control,  so  that  the 
actual  results  may  become  clearly  known. 


XIV 

COMPARATIVE  MUNICIPAL  STATISTICS* 

Any  comprehensive  study  of  municipal  government  and 
administration  must  be  in  large  part  based  on  the  comparison 
of  conditions  in  different  cities  and  different  countries.  And 
exact  comparisons  covering  a  large  number  of  cities  almost 
of  necessity  tend  to  be  expressed  in  statistical  form.  It  is, 
however,  a  difficult  matter  to  secure  the  desired  information 
in  a  sufficiently  uniform  scheme  of  classification  so  as  to 
make  possible  statistical  tabulations  that  may  be  easily 
compared.  It  is  less  than  forty  years  since  the  collection 
and  publication  of  such  data  has  been  undertaken  in  any 
country  on  an  extensive  scale.  And  it  is  less  than  a  decade 
since  any  comprehensive  effort  has  been  made  in  the  United 
States.  Some  account  of  the  more  important  publications, 
showing  the  development  in  this  field,  may  be  of  interest 
and  value  in  calling  attention  to  important  sources  of  mate- 
rial for  the  study  of  municipal  problems.  And  some  criticism 
of  what  is  now  done  may  serve  to  bring  about  further  im- 
provement. 

Since  the  establishment  of  the  English  board  of  poor-law 
commissioners  in  1834,  financial  statistics  for  the  local  English 
poor-law  authorities  have  been  prepared.  But  it  is  only  since 
the  creation  of  the  local  government  board  in  1871  that 
reports  from  all  the  English  local  authorities  have  been  col- 
lated and  published  in  the  annual  volume  of  Local  Taxation 
Returns. 

These  reports  cover  a  good  deal  more  than  local  taxation. 
They  give,  in  fact,  a  comprehensive  survey  of  all  the  financial 

•  Revised  from  an  article  published  in  the  Quarterly  Journal  of  Eco- 
nomics, XIII,  343  (April,  1899). 

275 


276  ESSAYS    IN    MUNICIPAL    ADMINISTRATION 

operations  of  the  various  local  authorities,  including  revenues 
of  all  sorts,  expenditures,  and  loans.  The  English  system 
of  local  government,  however,  still  presents  a  confusing 
chaos  of  authorities  which  complicates  the  character  of  the 
statements.  In  consequence,  the  statistics  of  municipal 
finance  cannot  be  found  in  one  series  of  tables.  Poor  relief 
and  public  schools  form  distinct  series  of  tables,  and  are 
entirely  excluded  from  the  municipal  accounts;  while  the 
latter  are  not  presented  as  a  whole,  but  are  sharply  divided 
into  borough  accounts  and  urban  sanitary  district  accounts. 
The  county  boroughs  have  still  another  division,  known  as 
the  Exchequer  contribution  accounts.  In  addition  there  are 
in  many  towns  special  authorities  dealing  with  specific  mu- 
nicipal functions,  —  burial  boards,  bath  commissioners,  library 
trustees,  market  commissioners,  bridge  and  ferry  trustees, 
joint  boards,  —  and  the  accounts  of  these  are  also  distinctly 
independent  of  the  municipal  accounts. 

This  situation  makes  almost  impossible  the  presentation  of 
figures  showing  the  total  municipal  receipts  and  expenditures 
for  particular  towns;  and,  in  fact,  no  attempt  is  made  in 
this  direction.  But  complete  details  as  to  receipts  and  expen- 
ditures for  all  the  manifold  fields  of  local  governmental  activity 
are  presented,  in  which  the  ordinary  financial  operations  are 
carefully  distinguished  from  accounts  dealing  with  loans 
and  investments  of  capital.  The  arrangement  of  the  large 
towns  into  three  groups — county  boroughs,  municipal  bor- 
oughs, and  urban  districts  not  boroughs  —  is  an  important 
step  in  the  direction  of  a  scientific  classification;  but  within 
each  of  these  divisions  the  arrangement  is  geographical; 
no  per  capita  figures  are  given,  nor  are  the  financial  statistics 
supplemented  by  other  information  concerning  the  activities 
of  the  various  authorities. 

In  addition  to  the  detailed  figures  for  the  many  local  au- 
thorities, tables  of  aggregates  for  the  entire  kingdom  are 
appended.  These  show  the  total  receipts  and  total  expendi- 
tures by  each  class  of  local  authorities,  the  total  receipts  by 


COMPARATIVE    MUNICIPAL    STATISTICS  277 

all  authorities  from  each  of  the  principal  sources  of  revenue, 
and  the  total  outgo  by  all  authorities  for  each  of  the  impor- 
tant departments  of  expenditure.  These,  again,  are  differen- 
tiated into  ordinary  operations  and  those  arising  out  of 
loan  transactions. 

Both  the  French  and  Italian  governments  publish  annually 
statements  of  the  finances  of  communes,  and  summaries  of 
these,  showing  totals,  appear  in  the  statistical  abstracts  for 
these  countries.  The  summary  in  the  French  Annuaire 
Statistique  gives  only  the  aggregate  receipts  and  expenditures 
for  all  the  communes  in  each  department,  with  similar  aggre- 
gate figures,  but  no  figures  for  any  particular  city,  as  to  the 
amount  of  centimes  additionels  and  the  receipts  from  octrois. 
The  summary  in  the  Annvxirio  Statistico  Italiano  gives  only 
aggregates  for  the  entire  kingdom;  but  in  addition  to  the 
totals  of  receipts  and  expenditures,  gives  itemized  aggregates 
according  to  a  careful  classification  of  receipts  and  expendi- 
tures. Thus  the  total  expenditures  for  all  Italian  communes 
for  general  administration,  for  public  works,  for  education, 
and  the  like,  are  given. 

The  facts  for  particular  Italian  cities  are  to  be  found  in 
the  Bilanci  Comunali,  published  by  the  Ministry  of  Agricul- 
ture, Industry,  and  Commerce.  The  first  number  appeared 
in  1863,  and  with  few  exceptions  it  has  been  issued  each 
year  since  that  time,  though  with  some  changes  in  the  system 
of  classification.  As  now  presented,  there  are  ninety  items 
of  receipts,  grouped  together  under  ten  main  heads,  and  one 
hundred  and  seventy  items  of  expenditure,  grouped  under 
eight  main  heads.  The  large  number  of  items  of  expendi- 
ture is  caused  by  the  triplication  of  each  item  under  each  of 
the  three  divisions  of  obligatory,  facoltative,  and  extraordinary 
expenditures.  In  accordance  with  this  elaborate  scheme, 
the  figures  are  given  for  all  of  the  communes  in  each  compart- 
ment, and  also  for  the  chief  town  in  each  province.  The 
latter  includes  all  of  the  considerable  towns  in  Italy,  and  there 
are  thus  presented  for  the  comparative  study  of  the  munici- 


278  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

pal  finances  of  these  towns  both  detailed  statistical  data 
and  the  totals  for  the  main  heads  of  receipts  and  expenditures. 

The  arrangement  and  grouping  of  the  figures  can,  however, 
be  criticised.  The  towns  are  arranged  in  alphabetical  order 
by  provinces,  with  the  aggregate  figures  for  each  province 
in  alternate  columns  with  the  figures  for  the  chief  towns. 
Thus  adjacent  figures  in  the  tables  are  not  at  all  those  likely 
to  be  compared,  as  would  be  the  case  were  the  statistics  for 
the  large  towns  grouped  in  one  separate  series  of  tables, 
having  the  towns  arranged  in  the  order  of  their  population. 
Another  disadvantage  is  the  absence  of  any  per  capita  figures 
or  of  any  statement  of  municipal  indebtedness.  It  is  also 
clear  that  the  value  of  the  compilation  would  be  much  in- 
creased were  it  to  include,  in  addition  to  finance  statistics, 
the  most  important  facts  of  municipal  equipment  and  the 
results  accomplished  by  the  various  municipal  departments. 
These  would  make  clear  how  far  differences  in  expenditure 
in  different  cities  were  justified  by  the  different  scope  of  work 
undertaken. 

The  question  of  comparative  finance  statistics  of  munici- 
palities formed  a  subject  of  discussion  at  several  sessions  of 
the  International  Congress  of  Statistics,  as  a  result  of  which 
it  was  determined  in  1878  to  establish  an  annual  bulletin  of 
the  finances  of  the  largest  cities  of  the  world.  The  prepara- 
tion of  this  was  placed  in  charge  of  M.  Josef  Korosi,  director 
of  the  Statistical  Bureau  of  Budapest;  and  the  first  Bulletin 
Annuel  des  Finances  des  Grandes  Villes,  containing  statistics 
for  the  year  1877,  appeared  in  1879.  The  list  of  questions 
for  this  had  been  sent  to  some  fifty  cities  of  continental 
Europe,  but  complete  answers  were  received  from  only  four- 
teen. The  tables  showed  for  these  fourteen  cities  the  total 
receipts  and  expenditures,  the  detail  of  receipts  from  prin- 
cipal sources,  the  detail  of  expenditures  for  the  most  impor- 
tant branches  of  administration,  —  as  police,  street  cleaning, 
education,  —  the  value  of  municipal  property,  and  the  extent 
of  their  indebtedness.     Figures   were  given  showing   both 


COMPARATIVE   MUNICIPAL   STATISTICS  279 

the  total  amounts  for  each  city  and  also  per  capita.  The 
cities  were  arranged  in  the  tables  in  the  order  of  population. 
The  bulletin  containing  the  tables,  with  explanatory  notes, 
formed  a  pamphlet  of  forty  pages. 

Other  issues  of  the  bulletin,  on  the  same  general  plan,  were 
published  annually  for  eight  years,  the  fifth  number  including 
also  synoptical  tables  for  the  quinquennial  period.  Twenty- 
six  cities  were  represented  in  the  second  issue;  but  there  was 
little  further  increase,  the  highest  number  included  in  any 
one  year  being  twenty-eight.  With  the  exception  of  Wash- 
ington, D.C.,  and  Providence,  R.I.,  which  appeared  in  some 
of  the  later  bulletins,  only  cities  of  continental  Europe  were 
represented  in  the  tables.  The  British  towns  were  inten- 
tionally omitted  on  account  of  the  important  differences  in 
their  administrative  system  from  that  on  the  Continent. 

After  the  number  published  in  1889  (containing  statistics 
for  the  year  1884),  the  bulletin  was  discontinued  on  account 
of  the  insurmountable  difficulties  in  the  way  of  securing  the 
data  from  a  sufficient  number  of  cities.  No  subsequent 
attempt  has  yet  been  made  to  secure  a  permanent  interna- 
tional comparison  of  municipal  statistics.  More  successful, 
however,  have  been  the  comparative  statistics  for  cities  within 
particular  countries,  this  success  being  due  in  part  to  the 
greater  influence  of  governmental  over  private  action,  and 
in  part  to  the  larger  degree  of  uniformity  in  administrative 
systems  among  the  cities  of  each  particular  country. 

Much  the  best  collection  of  municipal  statistics  is  presented 
in  the  Statistisches  Jahrbuch  Deutscher  Stddte.  This  was 
first  published  in  1890,  and  has  been  continued  at  almost 
yearly  intervals  since.  It  is  prepared,  not  by  the  central 
government,  but  through  the  collaboration  of  statistical 
officers  in  the  large  cities,  under  the  general  editorship  of 
M.  Neefe,  the  director  of  the  statistical  bureau  of  Breslau. 
The  Jahrbuch  is  composed  of  a  large  number  of  chapters, 
each  dealing  with  a  special  field  of  municipal  activity.  Thus 
there  are  chapters  on  fire  protection,  street  cleaning,  street 


280  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

lighting,  parks,  charities,  waterworks,  baths,  savings-banks, 
education,  libraries,  taxation,  and  other  municipal  functions. 
There  are  also  chapters  giving  general  information  about 
city  conditions,  such  as  those  on  local  transportation,  trade, 
shipping,  post  and  telegraph  business,  population,  dwellings, 
and  even  the  classification  of  population  by  occupations  and 
by  incomes.  The  first  volume  contained  seventeen  chapters; 
but  additions  have  been  made  in  each  number,  so  that,  al- 
though every  subject  is  not  treated  in  each  number,^  the  last 
volume  has  thirty  different  chapters. 

Each  chapter  is  prepared  by  one  of  the  collaborating  editors, 
who  frames  the  tabulation  schemes  and  collects  the  informa- 
tion from  the  various  cities.  The  tables  thus  prepared,  of 
which  there  are  several  on  each  subject,  contain  detailed  infor- 
mation on  the  equipment  of  the  various  departments,  of  the 
amount  of  work  actually  accomplished,  and  of  the  financial 
conditions.  Thus  in  the  chapter  on  waterworks  there  are 
tables  giving  the  length  of  water-mains  (distinguishing  the 
supply  and  the  distributing  pipes),  the  number  of  houses 
connected  and  the  number  not  connected  with  the  water- 
pipes,  the  total  water-supply  and  its  distribution  for  public 
services,  municipal  buildings,  and  private  undertakings. 
Additional  tables  show  the  financial  operations  of  the  water- 
works, —  the  receipts  from  different  sources,  the  expendi- 
tures for  administration,  maintenance,  additions,  interest, 
and  amortization  of  debt,  with  net  results,  distinguishing 
those  for  the  complete  transactions  from  those  for  ordinary 
operation.  Everywhere,  too,  totals  are  supplemented  by 
per  capita  and  comparative  figures.  The  other  chapters 
present  no  less  complete  and  interesting  information  con- 
cerning the  subjects  with  which  they  deal. 


•  Thus  the  subjects  of  Markets  and  Police  have  each  been  treated  in 
but  a  single  number.  In  the  case  of  police  this  is  probably  due  to  the 
fact  that  in  most  of  the  larger  cities  the  police  force  is  not  under  the 
municipal  government,  but  is  managed  directly  by  the  central  govern- 
ment. 


COMPARATIVE   MUNICIPAL   STATISTICS  281 

The  Statistisches  Jahrbuch  deals  only  with  the  cities  of 
over  fifty  thousand  population.  The  earlier  volumes  arranged 
the  cities  in  order  of  population;  but  in  the  later  numbers 
this  has  been  changed  to  an  alphabetical  arrangement,  which 
necessarily  separates  from  each  other  the  figures  which  are 
most  likely  to  be  compared.  The  single  criticism  which  can 
be  made  on  the  work  is  the  absence  of  any  summary  tables 
of  receipts  and  expenditure.  It  is,  of  course,  true  that  totals 
of  this  kind  are  based  on  such  different  conditions  in  the 
various  cities  as  to  be  unsafe  for  general  comparisons;  but 
it  would  be  of  advantage  to  indicate  the  total  receipts  and 
expenditures  for  the  sake  of  completeness  in  the  information 
for  each  city  and  for  use  in  comparing  development  from 
year  to  year. 

The  Oesterreichisches  Stddtebuch  (prepared  by  the  Austrian 
Statistical  Central  Commission)  presents  just  such  a  series  of 
summary  financial  tables  for  fifty  of  the  largest  cities  in  the 
Austrian  monarchy,  arranging  the  cities  in  order  of  popula- 
tion. These  summary  tables,  moreover,  include  not  only 
statistics  for  the  single  year,  but  tables  are  given  for  each 
year  of  the  preceding  decade,  thus  making  possible  a  rapid 
comparison  of  the  development  of  municipal  finances  within 
that  period. 

In  all  other  respects,  however,  the  Oesterreichisches  Stddte- 
buch is  distinctly  inferior  to  the  Statistisches  Jahrbuch  Deut- 
scher  Stddte.  Although  the  detailed  figures  deal  only  with 
twenty-two  cities  compared  with  fifty-five  in  the  German 
work,  it  forms  a  much  larger  volume  (700  pages  as  against 
388);  but  there  are  no  real  comparisons  of  the  various  lines 
of  municipal  action.  In  place  of  chapters  on  the  various 
municipal  functions  there  are  sections  on  each  of  the  cities, 
each  section  being  subdivided  into  various  divisions.  If 
the  information  for  each  city  was  complete,  this  method  of 
arrangement  would  make  the  volume  of  little  more  use  than 
a  series  of  municipal  documents  for  each  city  bound  together 
in  one  volume.    The  student  of  comparisons  must  search 


282  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

through  the  volume  for  the  facts  of  interest  to  him,  and  pre- 
pare his  own  tables  from  such  figures  as  he  may  find.  Further, 
the  report  for  each  city  by  no  means  gives  such  complete 
and  detailed  information  as  to  all  the  various  municipal  func- 
tions as  do  the  chapters  in  the  German  year-book.  Popu- 
lation details  (including  the  movement  of  population),  educa- 
tional statistics,  figures  of  food  consumption,  and  summary 
financial  statements  are  given  for  each  city  at  length.  In  a 
few  cases  some  other  matters  are  included,  such  as  poor 
relief  and  public  lighting;  but  these  are  exceptional,  and 
there  is  no  attempt  to  make  the  information  for  any  city 
cover  all  the  undertakings  of  the  municipality. 

The  Bureau  of  Industries  under  the  Ontario  Department 
of  Agriculture  publishes  annually  a  report  on  municipal 
statistics  for  the  Province  of  Ontario.  This  gives  the  statis- 
tics of  assessment  and  taxation  (showing  also  per  capita 
taxation),  of  receipts  and  expenditures,  and  of  assets  and 
liabilities.  The  municipalities  are  classified  as  counties, 
townships,  towns,  villages,  and  cities;  and  figures  are  given 
both  for  the  separate  municipalities  and  aggregates  for  each 
class.  The  classification  of  receipts  and  expenditures  is  not 
well  adapted  for  comparative  purposes.  Several  depart- 
ments are  often  combined  in  one  item,  —  such  as  waterworks 
and  fire  protection,  —  a  system  which  makes  impossible  a 
comparison  of  either  of  the  factors  thus  united.  Receipts 
from  loans  and  payments  for  construction  work  are  given 
separately  in  the  tables;  but  they  are  included  in  the  single 
set  of  totals  for  each  municipality,  so  that  it  is  not  possible 
to  compare  the  total  ordinary  expenditure  of  different  cities. 

Despite  the  defects  pointed  out  in  these  foreign  publica- 
tions, it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  in  all  of  these  cases  the 
task  had  been  attacked  with  an  appreciation  of  its  impor- 
tance before  any  serious  efforts  in  this  direction  had  been 
made  in  the  United  States.  The  first  attempts  at  any  com- 
parative statement  of  municipal  statistics  in  this  country 
were  in  connection  with  the  later  decennial  censuses.    Begin- 


COMPARATIVE   MUNICIPAL   STATISTICS  283 

ning  in  1870,  some  statistics  of  taxation  and  debt  were  com- 
piled; and  in  1880  and  1890  the  data  on  these  points  were 
extended,  and  further  items  were  collected  under  the  head 
of  social  statistics  of  cities.  But  these  were  not  only  inade- 
quate on  account  of  the  long  ten-year  intervals,  but  were  also 
so  defective  in  substance,  classification,  and  arrangement  as 
to  have  little  real  value. ^ 

An  important  step  in  advance  was  taken  in  1898  when 
Congress  authorized  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  to  collect  and 
publish  annually  statistics  of  cities  of  over  30,000  population. 
At  first  a  compilation  was  attempted  from  the  printed  reports 
of  various  cities;  but  owing  to  the  lack  of  uniformity  in  the 
reports  published,  and  in  many  cases  to  the  lack  of  reports, 
this  method  was  soon  found  to  be  impracticable.  The  work 
was  then  undertaken  by  special  agents  of  the  Department 
of  Labor  in  accordance  with  a  special  schedule  of  inquiries. 
The  results  of  the  first  investigation  were  published  in  the 
bulletin  of  the  Department  of  Labor  for  September,  1899; 
and  similar  reports  were  published  in  each  subsequent  year 
up  to  and  including  1902.  These  reports  furnished  much 
fuller  statistical  data  in  regard  to  the  activities  of  American 
cities  and  their  financial  operations  than  had  been  available 
before.  But  the  scope  of  the  investigations  was  still  limited, 
while  the  variations  in  the  accounting  methods  of  different 
cities  added  further  difficulties  in  the  preparation  of  the 
financial  statements  and  also  made  the  accuracy  of  the 
results  in  some  cases  open  to  question. 

Meantime  the  act  providing  for  the  twelfth  census  had 
authorized  inquiries  which  covered  much  the  same  class  of 
data  as  that  presented  in  the  reports  of  the  Department  of 
Labor.  And  after  the  organization  of  the  new  Executive 
Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  comprising  among  its 
bureaus  both  the  Census  Office  and  the  former  Department 

*  Cf.  a  criticism  by  Professor  H.  B.  Gardiner,  Municipal  Statistics  in 
the  Twelfth  Census,  in  Publications  of  the  American  Economic  Associa- 
tion, XII. 


284  ESSAYS  IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

of  Labor,  the  secretary  of  the  new  department  transferred 
the  work  on  statistics  of  cities  to  the  Bureau  of  the  Census. 
This  bureau  published  in  1905  its  first  report  on  the  Statis- 
tics of  Cities  of  over  25,000  population  for  the  years  1902  and 
1903.  Later  a  similar  report  for  the  year  1903,  covering  cities 
from  8000  to  25,000  population,  was  issued.  Other  reports 
on  the  larger  cities  for  the  years  1904  and  1905  followed; 
and  it  is  expected  that  this  will  be  an  annual  publication. 

These  reports  of  the  Census  Bureau  have  conformed  in 
their  general  scope  to  the  previous  reports  of  the  Department 
of  Labor,  including  data  on  the  following  subjects:  popula- 
tion, area,  police,  fire  departments,  public  schools,  public 
libraries,  municipal  water,  gas  and  electric  light  plants,  streets, 
street  lighting,  street  railways,  public  parks,  building  permits, 
liquor  saloons,  food  and  sanitary  inspection,  removal  of 
garbage,  almshouses  and  orphan  asylums,  marriages  and 
divorces,  deaths,  and  public  finance.  But  the  later  investiga- 
tions have  gone  more  into  detail,  and  especially  in  the  finan- 
cial statements  a  new  classification  and  schedule  of  items 
has  been  prepared. 

By  means  of  these  reports  it  is  now  possible  to  make  statis- 
tical comparisons  of  conditions  in  different  American  cities 
such  as  were  entirely  impossible  a  few  years  ago.  And  the 
facts  disclosed  naturally  direct  attention  to  the  different 
conditions,  especially  as  between  cities  of  approximately  the 
same  population.  This,  however,  is  not  the  place  to  discuss 
the  results  in  detail.  But  some  criticism  may  be  offered  on 
the  methods  followed  with  a  view  toward  the  betterment 
of  the  results. 

One  defect  in  the  reports  is  the  absence  of  any  data  in 
regard  to  the  organization  of  municipal  government.  With 
so  much  variety  in  methods  of  organization  as  exists  in  this 
country,  it  would  be  of  interest  to  be  able  to  find  a  definite 
statement  of  conditions  in  different  cities.  And  this  infor- 
mation could  be  secured  with  less  difficulty  than  much  of 
what  is  ascertained  and  published. 


COMPARATIVE   MUNICIPAL   STATISTICS  285 

The  statistics  of  municipal  finance  have  been  the  most 
difficult  part  of  these  reports,  owing  to  the  utter  lack  of  sys- 
tem in  the  accounting  methods  of  cities  and  the  absence  of 
anything  approaching  uniformity.  On  this  account  the  spe- 
cial agents  of  the  Census  Bureau  must  in  many  cases  go 
over  the  financial  accounts  in  detail,  and  sometimes  go  back 
to  the  bills  and  vouchers  to  prepare  the  data.  One  result 
of  their  work  has  been  to  draw  attention  to  the  importance 
of  uniform  methods  of  accounting  and  to  bring  about  con- 
siderable improvements  in  the  methods  employed.  But 
until  there  is  a  nearer  approach  to  uniformity  of  method, 
there  must  remain  some  doubt  as  to  the  accuracy  of  the  finan- 
cial statements  compiled  for  these  reports.^ 

*  Under  the  Uniform  Accounting  Law  of  1902,  an  annual  report  on 
the  finances  of  Ohio  cities  is  published  by  the  Auditor  of  State. 


XV 
MUNICIPAL    ACTIVITIES    IN    GREAT    BRITAIN 

MUNICIPAL   OWNERSHIP   IN   SCOTLAND 

So  much  has  been  published  in  the  United  States  about 
the  municipal  enterprises  of  Glasgow,  that  it  may  seem 
useless  to  offer  anything  more.  But  it  is  of  some  service  to 
present  some  of  the  latest  results  of  such  undertakings,  and 
to  correct  some  of  the  misleading  statements  that  are  made 
about  them. 

It  may  not  be  generally  known  that  Glasgow  is  not  an 
exceptional  community  in  its  own  country  in  the  scope  of 
its  municipal  activities.  In  fact  that  city  has  simply  taken 
the  lead  and  carried  out  on  a  larger  scale  a  movement  that 
is  very  general  throughout  Scotland,  and  is  much  more 
marked  than  the  same  movement  in  England. 

From  the  latest  financial  returns  to  the  Scotch  Local 
Government  Board  (for  1903-04)  it  appears  that  40  per 
cent  of  the  revenue  and  expenditure  of  local  authorities  in 
Scotland  is  for  various  revenue-producing  undertakings. 
In  the  aggregate,  more  than  $25,000,000  was  spent  for  such 
enterprises,  as  compared  to  $40,000,000  for  all  other  purposes. 

First  in  financial  importance  of  these  commercial  under- 
takings of  the  Scotch  towns  are  the  gas-works.  Nearly  all 
the  gas-works  in  Scotland  are  municipal.  Next  ranks  the 
docks  and  harbor  works ;  and  third,  the  street  railways,  the 
latter  being  often  under  private  companies  in  the  smaller 
towns.  Other  commercial  undertakings  are  waterworks,  elec- 
tricity works,  markets,  slaughter-houses,  and  —  in  Glasgow 
alone  —  there  has  been  a  municipal  telephone  system. 

According  to  the  financial  reports,  all  of  the  above-named 

287 


288  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

undertakings  seem  to  be  conducted  on  sound  commercial 
principles.  The  revenue  is  more  than  sufficient  to  meet 
working  expenses  and  all  debt  charges.  For  the  year 
1903-04,  the  aggregate  surplus  revenue  was  about  $425,000. 
Besides  the  strictly  commercial  enterprises,  the  Scotch 
towns  carry  on  other  revenue  undertakings,  where  a  con- 
siderable loss  is  expected  in  view  of  the  public  benefits 
derived.  Such  are  the  public  baths  and  wash-houses,  work- 
ing-class dwellings,  built  in  connection  with  street  and 
sanitary  improvements,  and  burial-grounds.  These  have 
been  undertaken  largely  in  the  interest  of  the  public  health; 
and  even  critics  of  some  of  the  more  recent  commercial 
undertakings  do  not  find  fault  with  the  deficit  of  $500,000 
(for  1903-04)  in  these  sanitary  enterprises. 

THE   GLASGOW  TRAMWAYS   AND   TELEPHONES 

Doubtless  the  most  important  single  municipal  under- 
taking in  Scotland  is  the  Glasgow  tramways,  which  have 
already  attracted  so  much  attention  in  America.  The  lines 
are  being  steadily  extended  into  districts  beyond  the  city 
limits,  and  the  traffic  continues  to  increase,  while  the  finan- 
cial results  are  highly  favorable. 

At  the  end  of  the  last  fiscal  year  (May  31,  1906)  there 
were  160  miles  of  car  lines  in  operation,  nearly  three  times 
the  amount  in  the  first  year  of  municipal  operation  (1894-5). 
The  traffic  during  1905-06  was  208,000,000  passengers, 
almost  four  times  as  many  as  in  1894-5.  And  the  average 
fare  paid  was  slightly  under  a  penny,  or  two  cents. 

The  number  of  passengers  carried  is,  however,  less  than 
in  American  cities  of  the  same  size.  And  in  comparing  fares 
it  is  necessary  to  remember  that  the  distances  travelled  are 
on  the  average  much  less  than  in  America.  But  it  must 
also  be  kept  in  mind  that  the  longer  distance  traffic  is  taken 
care  of  very  largely  by  the  local  train  service  of  the  steam 
railroad  companies  at  exceedingly  low  fares.  The  two 
largest    railroad    companies    have   each    underground   lines 


MUNICIPAL  ACTIVITIES  IN   GREAT   BRITAIN  289 

across  the  city;  and  each  of  the  three  railroad  companies 
have  a  number  of  circular  loops  around  the  outlying  districts 
with  frequent  trains.  Within  most  of  the  suburban  residence 
district  weekly  tickets  are  sold,  good  for  any  number  of  rides 
in  either  direction,  at  one  shilling  and  sixpence,  or  thirty- 
six  cents.  And  while  the  tramways  are  steadily  cutting 
into  this  railroad  traffic,  a  huge  volume  of  business  is  still 
done  in  this  way,  for  which  it  is  impossible  to  secure  accurate 
statistics. 

In  examining  the  financial  results,  it  is  important  to  em- 
phasize two  items  of  expenditure.  The  Glasgow  tramways 
department  lays  and  keeps  up  the  street  pavement  between 
its  tracks;  and  it  is  noteworthy  that  this  part  of  the  pave- 
ment is  frequently  better  than  that  maintained  by  the  high- 
ways committee.  And  the  tramways  department  also  pays 
regularly  taxes  to  the  various  local  authorities  in  whose 
territories  there  are  tracks.  In  1905-06  the  total  taxes  paid 
amounted  to  $210,000,  which  was  rather  more  than  5  per 
cent  of  the  total  income.  Some  recent  American  franchises 
have  provided  for  a  payment  to  the  city  of  5  per  cent  of  the 
revenue  in  lieu  of  taxes  and  ostensibly  also  as  a  payment  for 
the  franchise.  It  is  significant  that  the  Glasgow  tramway 
pays  as  much  simply  as  taxes  in  the  ordinary  way. 

After  paying  these  items  in  addition  to  the  ordinary 
working  expenditure,  interest,  sinking-fund  and  depreciation 
charges,  the  Glasgow  tramways  yield  a  net  surplus  which 
enables  an  annual  payment  of  considerable  amount  into 
the  fund  known  as  the  Common  Good.  For  several  years 
this  annual  payment  has  been  $125,000.  In  1906  it  was 
$175,000.  And  the  total  amount  paid  in  since  1894  has 
been  $950,000. 

It  is  also  worth  noting  that  the  debt  incurred  for  the 
Glasgow  tramways  is  practically  secured  only  by  the  under- 
taking itself.  From  the  first  loan  made  to  build  the  tracks 
in  1872,  the  acts  authorizing  the  city  to  borrow  money  for 
tramway  purposes  have  made  no  provision  authorizing  a  tax 


290  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

to  be  levied  to  meet  any  possible  deficit  in  the  revenue. 
Interest  and  principal  on  these  loans  must  be  paid  from  the 
tramways  revenue,  or  if  that  fails,  from  the  private  funds 
of  the  city  in  the  Common  Good.  This  arrangement  is  some- 
what similar  to  that  proposed  for  municipal  street  railways 
in  Chicago,  and  might  well  be  adopted  by  any  other  American 
city  which  may  undertake  to  establish  a  municipal  system. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  value  of  Glasgow's  ex- 
perience for  American  cities,  it  seems  clear  that  the  Glasgow 
tramways  are  an  undoubted  success  for  that  city.  And  there 
is  no  substantial  foundation  for  recent  attempts  to  minimize 
the  extent  of  that  success. 

For  five  years  the  city  of  Glasgow  operated  a  municipal 
telephone  system,  which  a  year  ago  was  turned  over  to 
the  national  Post-office  Department.  This  experiment  was 
hailed  for  a  time  as  the  beginning  of  a  new  branch  of  mu- 
nicipal ownership.  And  its  abandonment  will  doubtless  be 
as  strongly  urged  as  a  complete  failure.  It  should  therefore 
be  worth  while  to  examine  just  what  has  been  accomplished, 
and  why  the  undertaking  has  been  given  up  by  the  city. 

The  municipal  system  was  established  on  account  of  the 
inadequate  service  and  the  high  rates  charged  by  the  National 
Telephone  Company,  which  supplied  Glasgow  in  connection 
with  its  system  of  local  and  long-distance  services  throughout 
Great  Britain.  In  1893  the  city  first  applied  for  authority 
to  construct  and  operate  a  competing  system,  but  it  was 
not  until  1901  that  it  was  given  the  necessary  powers  and 
the  municipal  plant  was  inaugurated.  Since  then  the  two 
systems  have  been  in  active  competition.  The  municipal 
plant  offered  the  lowest  rate  for  unlimited  service,  —  $25  a 
year.  But  the  National  Telephone  Company  introduced 
multiple  party  lines  at  low  rates,  and  had  also  the  decided 
advantage  of  its  long-distance  connections  to  other  cities. 

Under  these  conditions,  while  the  municipal  system  was 
developed  far  beyond  the  original  plan,  its  service  remained 
smaller  than  the  older  system,  and  financially  was  conducted 


MUNICIPAL   ACTIVITIES  IN    GREAT   BRITAIN  291 

at  some  loss.  On  the  face  of  the  reports  there  remained  a 
small  surplus  of  revenue  over  expenditure;  but  the  depre- 
ciation allowance  was  insufficient,  and  in  the  last  year  sank 
to  the  insignificant  sum  of  $240  on  a  capital  investment  of 
$1,800,000. 

These  results  confirm  the  experience  of  American  cities  as 
to  the  inadequacy  of  competition  in  the  telephone  business ; 
and  also  show  the  weakness  of  a  purely  local  service  as  com- 
pared with  a  national  system.  It  is  possible  that  the  mu- 
nicipal system  would  have  shown  better  results  in  the  future, 
if  the  city  had  been  permitted  to  purchase  the  local  plant 
of  the  National  Telephone  Company,  when  its  license  ex- 
pires in  1911,  and  if  the  long-distance  lines  were  then  to  be 
taken  over  by  the  Post  Office  as  part  of  the  telegraph  system. 
But  the  Post-office  Department  decided  to  take  over  both  the 
local  and  long-distance  services  of  the  National  Telephone 
Company,  and  to  refuse  any  new  licenses  for  municipal 
plants. 

In  these  circumstances  the  city  of  Glasgow  had  practically 
no  alternative  but  to  dispose  of  its  plant  to  the  national 
government,  which  could  then  furnish  a  more  complete  ser- 
vice than  either  of  the  existing  systems.  Accordingly  ar- 
rangements were  completed  for  the  sale  of  the  municipal 
plant  to  the  Post-office  Department  for  $1,500,000.  After 
deducting  the  amount  of  loans  repaid,  and  the  depreciation 
and  sinking-funds  from  the  total  capital  investment,  this 
involves  a  net  loss  to  the  municipal  treasury  of  $75,000. 

Against  this  loss  there  may  be  considered  the  advantages 
to  the  telephone  users  from  the  cheaper  and  better  service 
secured,  as  the  result  of  the  establishment  of  the  municipal 
service.  There  is  no  method  of  calculating  what  this  amounts 
to.  And  there  will,  of  course,  be  wide  differences  of  opinion 
as  to  the  justice  of  placing  this  amount  on  the  overburdened 
tax-payers.  At  least  the  city  was  fully  justified  in  giving  up 
the  experiment.  And  in  so  doing  the  Glasgow  Town  Council 
has  shown  its  sober  sense  in  adhering  to  commercial  prin- 


292  ESSAYS   IN   MUNiaPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

ciples  rather  than  following  a  vague  theory  of  municipalizing 
everything. 

BIRMINGHAM    ENTERPRISES 

Thirty  years  ago,  under  the  influence  of  Joseph  Chamber- 
lain, Birmingham  took  a  leading  part  in  the  movement  for 
the  material  betterment  of  municipal  conditions  and  the 
extension  of  municipal  activities,  which  became  general 
among  the  large  British  cities.  Large  street-improvement 
schemes  were  carried  out,  and  in  connection  with  these,  the 
city  became  the  owner  of  important  estates  and  building 
property.  A  water-supply  was  constructed.  And  the  city 
purchased  and  operated  the  local  gas-works. 

Following  the  decade  in  which  this  aggressive  policy  was 
pursued,  there  came  a  period  of  comparative  quiescence. 
The  works  and  institutions  established  were  maintained; 
but  no  new  lines  of  activity  of  any  importance  were  under- 
taken. And  the  municipal  authorities  may  be  said  to  have 
rested  on  their  oars,  while  other  cities  have  taken  the  lead. 

Within  the  past  few  years,  however,  Birmingham  has  again 
become  aroused;  and  another  period  of  unusual  activity 
seems  to  have  opened.  A  new  water-supply,  one  of  the 
largest  in  the  kingdom,  has  been  built.  The  street  railways 
are  being  taken  over  by  the  city.  And  for  the  improvement 
of  housing  conditions  a  somewhat  novel  policy  has  just  been 
inaugurated. 

Before  noting  these  new  undertakings,  some  attention  may 
be  given  to  the  municipal  gas-works.  These  are  the  most 
successful  of  the  earlier  series  of  municipal  establishments, 
and  perhaps  the  most  successful  of  municipal  gas-works  in 
Great  Britain.  The  works  were  purchased  in  1875  at  a  cost 
of  $10,000,000.  This  sum  included  a  considerable  allowance 
for  good-will  or  the  established  business,  in  addition  to  the 
value  of  the  physical  plant.  Prices  were  reduced  to  some 
degree,  but  were  not  made  as  low  as  in  Glasgow,  —  for  several 
years  prices  were  from  65  to  80  cents  per  thousand  feet. 


MUNICIPAL  ACTIVITIES  IN   GREAT   BRITAIN  293 

The  income  from  the  beginning  yielded  a  considerable  sur- 
plus profit,  after  paying  all  expenses  for  operation,  interest, 
and  sinking-fund  charges,  and  even  extensions. 

During  the  thirty  years  since  municipal  operation  was 
begun,  the  prices  have  been  still  further  reduced,  the  con- 
sumption of  gas  has  increased  steadily,  and  a  surplus  profit 
has  been  regularly  realized.  Prices  now  range  from  42  to 
60  cents  per  thousand,  averaging  50  cents.  The  surplus  of 
the  past  ten  years  has  averaged  $190,000  a  year.  In  thirty 
years  the  total  surplus  has  amounted  to  $5,500,000.  And 
while  the  gas  consumption  has  almost  trebled,  the  expenditure 
charged  to  capital  account  has  increased  only  25  per  cent. 
This  contrasts  sharply  with  the  inflation  of  capital  in  pro- 
portion to  gas  consumption  in  the  United  States.  In  part 
the  result  in  Birmingham  has  been  due  to  the  policy  of  making 
extensions  out  of  earnings,  so  that  the  real  profit  has  been 
much  greater  than  the  surplus  shown  on  the  books. 

The  new  water-supply  inaugurated  in  July,  1904,  is  from 
the  Elan  valley  in  Wales,  eighty  miles  from  Birmingham. 
The  watershed  covers  an  area  of  over  seventy  square  miles. 
The  plans  provide  for  six  reservoirs,  four  of  which  are  com- 
pleted or  imder  construction.  These  will  be  sufficient  to 
furnish  in  a  dry  year  a  supply  of  75  million  gallons  a  day 
for  two  hundred  days.  Sand  filter  beds  have  also  been  built, 
both  in  the  Elan  valley  and  at  the  service  reservoirs  near 
Birmingham.  The  works  in  the  Elan  valley  were  built  by 
direct  labor,  while  the  aqueduct  was  constructed  under 
contract. 

With  the  completion  of  the  works  now  under  construction, 
the  new  supply  will  cost  rather  less  than  $30,000,000;  while 
an  additional  outlay  will  be  necessary  for  the  remaining 
reservoirs  when  they  are  required.  As  the  new  supply  is  far 
in  excess  of  the  present  needs  of  the  city,  the  water-rents 
and  other  revenue  do  not  meet  all  of  the  charges  connected 
with  the  loan  for  the  new  works.  Up  to  1899  the  Birming- 
ham waterworks  had  shown  a  net  surplus  profit  of  $850,000. 


294  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTKATION 

But  for  the  past  seven  years  there  has  been  a  balance  on  the 
loss  side;  and  the  net  loss  at  the  present  time  amounts  to 
$1,850,000.  With  the  increased  use  of  the  new  supply,  this 
loss  should  be  gradually  reduced. 

Street  railway  conditions  in  Birmingham  are  in  a  transi- 
tion stage.  The  first  lines  were  built  by  private  companies. 
Later  the  city  took  over  the  tracks  and  built  extensions, 
but  leased  the  lines  and  did  not  attempt  operation.  About 
three  years  ago,  however,  municipal  operation  was  begun  on 
one  line;  and  this  policy  will  be  extended  as  fast  as  existing 
leases  expire.  Meanwhile  the  service  is  distinctly  inferior 
not  only  to  that  in  Glasgow,  but  also  to  that  in  other  English 
towns,  such  as  Manchester  and  Liverpool,  where  the  lines  are 
run  by  the  municipal  corporations. 

As  in  other  British  cities,  one  of  the  most  serious  problems 
now  facing  the  municipal  authorities  is  the  housing  conditions 
of  the  working-classes.  And  in  this  field  a  somewhat  novel 
policy  has  just  been  promulgated. 

In  connection  with  street-improvement  schemes  of  three 
decades  ago,  the  city  of  Birmingham  became  the  owner  of 
considerable  real  estate,  on  which  improved  dwellings  for 
the  working-classes  were  built.  And  more  recently  addi- 
tional houses  have  been  constructed  under  later  acts  of 
Parliament.  But  these  undertakings  generally  show  a  finan- 
cial loss,  which  has  been  accepted,  however,  as  part  of  the 
cost  of  the  sanitary  and  street  improvements. 

Nevertheless,  there  has  been  a  strong  opposition  to  any 
further  extension  of  the  house-building  policy.  And  the 
later  work  of  the  city  government  has  been  directed  toward 
compelling  the  private  owners  to  improve  their  property 
so  as  to  remove  the  worst  of  the  unwholesome  conditions. 
A  good  deal  has  been  accomplished  by  opening  up  houses 
in  rear  courtyards  to  the  street;  while  the  regulations  for 
new  buildings  prevent  the  construction  of  more  buildings 
of  the  worst  kind. 

But  the  need  for  further  action  in  reference  to  building 


MUNICIPAL   ACTIVITIES   IN    GREAT    BRITAIN  295 

in  new  sections  has  been  felt.  And  in  1905  a  committee 
visited  a  number  of  German  cities;  and  as  a  result  of  their 
investigations  the  new  policy  has  been  proposed.  This  policy 
is  to  have  the  city  purchase  suburban  real  estate,  to  be  leased 
or  sold  in  small  lots  for  building  purposes,  after  reserving 
tracts  for  public  buildings  and  open  spaces.  It  is  believed 
that  this  will  reduce  the  speculation  in  suburban  real  estate, 
without  involving  the  city  in  the  risks  of  building  operations 
or  managing  the  buildings  that  may  be  constructed. 

The  suggestion  for  this  plan  came  from  the  investigation 
of  conditions  in  the  city  of  Ulm,  in  Bavaria,  where  the  munici- 
pality owns  four-fifths  of  the  real  estate  within  the  city  limits. 
It  also  resembles  the  plan  undertaken  by  the  city  of  Milan 
Italy.*  To  apply  it  in  Birmingham  will,  however,  require 
additional  legislation  from  Parliament. 

This  new  housing  policy  was,  however,  threatened  by  an 
unfortunate  intrusion  of  national  politics  into  municipal 
elections.  Birmingham  has  long  been  known  as  the  English 
city  where  the  party  system  has  been  most  thoroughly  applied 
in  municipal  contests.  And  for  many  years  the  Unionists 
have  controlled  the  council  by  a  large  majority.  But  there 
are  a  few  seats  held  by  Liberals;  and  a  few  years  ago  the 
Unionists  permitted  the  election  of  a  strong  Gladstonian 
Liberal,  who  was  recognized  as  the  best  man  to  take  charge 
of  the  educational  administration  turned  over  to  the  council 
by  the  Act  of  1902. 

At  the  municipal  election  in  November,  1906,  the  term  of 
the  chairman  of  the  housing  committee  expired.  This  gentle- 
man, Mr.  Nettlefold,  had  been  elected  for  many  years  as  a 
Unionist ;  and  is  indeed  related  by  marriage  to  Joseph  Cham- 
berlain. But  at  the  last  parliamentary  election  he  was  unable 
to  follow  the  Unionists  in  their  tariff  policy.  And  on  this 
account  the  Unionists  selected  a  candidate  to  contest  his 
reelection. 

Mr.  Nettlefold,  however,  was  supported  by  many  Unionists 

» See  p.  344. 


296  ESSAYS   IN   MUNiaPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

who  believed  that  his  views  on  the  tariff  had  no  bearing  on 
his  qualifications  as  a  municipal  councillor,  and  who  believed 
in  particular  that  his  retention  in  the  council  was  essential 
for  carrying  out  the  new  housing  policy.  Prominent  among 
these  was  Professor  W.  J.  Ashley,  formerly  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, who  has  been  one  of  the  leading  supporters  of  Mr. 
Chamberlain's  tariff  policy.  The  result  of  the  contest  was 
the  reelection  of  Mr.  Nettlefold,  and  the  defeat  of  those  who 
wished  to  increase  the  influence  of  the  national  party  organi- 
zations in  the  local  contests. 

SOME   MUNICIPAL  PROBLEMS  IN   LONDON 

Any  study  of  municipal  conditions  in  the  metropolitan 
community  of  England  is  greatly  complicated  by  the  con- 
fusing list  of  local  authorities  with  overlapping  areas  and 
jurisdiction,  and  the  absence  of  any  central  organization  for 
the  whole  community  with  comprehensive  powers  in  local 
affairs.  Some  questions  are  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the 
direct  agents  of  the  central  government;  while  the  local 
authorities  include  the  county  council,  the  ancient  city  cor- 
poration, twenty-eight  metropolitan  boroughs,  thirty  boards 
of  poor-law  guardians,  and  a  number  of  other  special  boards 
and  commissions.  No  attempt  will  be  made  here  to  describe 
the  organization,  functions,  and  interrelations  of  these  various 
authorities.  But  this  paper  will  deal  only  with  conditions 
affecting  the  two  important  services  of  local  transportation 
and  lighting. 

Local  transportation  conditions  illustrate  in  a  striking 
manner  the  lack  of  system  or  even  any  serious  attempt  at 
orderly  control  that  pervades  the  whole  chaos  of  local  affairs 
in  London.  There  are  four  principal  means  of  local  transit, 
—the  local  service  of  the  trunk  railroads,  the  underground 
railroads,  the  surface  tramways,  and  the  omnibuses.  All 
of  these  are  operated  by  private  corporations,  except  the 
tramways,  most  of  which  are  now  under  the  management 
of  the  County  Council.     Besides  these  the  11,000  licensed 


MUNICIPAL   ACTIVITIES   IN    GREAT   BRITAIN  297 

hackney  cabs  and  carriages  carry  a  good  many  million  pas- 
sengers in  the  course  of  a  year,  and  form  an  appreciable 
factor  in  the  surface  traffic  on  the  public  streets.* 

Regular  omnibus  lines  in  London  date  from  the  early 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  in  spite  of  the  modern 
developments  they  still  carry  a  large  fraction  of  the  local 
passenger  movement.  There  are  now  some  3600  licensed 
busses,  operated  by  a  number  of  companies,  and  no  complete 
record  of  their  traffic  is  available.  The  two  principal  com- 
panies have  about  2000  busses,  and  carried,  in  1905,  288,000,- 
000  passengers.  From  this  it  may  be  roughly  estimated 
that  approximately  500,000,000  passengers  are  annually  car- 
ried on  all  the  bus  lines  in  the  metropolitan  district.  Until 
two  or  three  years  ago,  horse-power  was  still  the  uniform 
motive  power.  But  gasoline  motor  busses  have  been  rapidly 
coming  into  use;  and  in  spite  of  their  noise  and  other  dis- 
agreeable features,  their  greater  speed  and  larger  carrying 
capacity  give  them  a  distinct  advantage,  so  that  their  use 
seems  likely  to  increase.  And  omnibuses  of  some  sort  are 
inevitable  so  long  as  tramway  tracks  are  not  allowed  on  the 
surface  of  the  streets  in  the  Hmits  of  the  "city"  corporation. 
But  at  best  the  bus  service  is  slow,  and  for  long  distances 
expensive.  On  a  few  short  lines  run  by  the  County  Council, 
there  is  a  halfpenny  fare.  In  general  the  lowest  rate  is  one 
penny,  or  two  cents;  and  this  increases  with  the  distance  to 
as  high  as  ninepence  for  some  of  the  longest  runs  by  motor 
busses.  The  busses  are  used  mostly  for  short  distances, 
and  the  average  fare  paid  is  about  one  and  a  half  pence. 

Tramways,  or  surface  street  railways,  were  not  established 
in  London  until  long  after  their  introduction  in  other  British 
cities;  and  they  are  still  of  less  relative  importance  than  in 
other  British  or  European  cities.  The  lines  were  mainly 
begun  by  private  companies,  under  agreements  with  various 

'  An  actual  count  of  wheeled  traffic  at  various  points  showed  that  at 
the  two  busiest  corners  (Mansion  House  and  Marble  Arch)  more  than 
22,000  vehicles  passed  in  one  day  from  8  a.m.  to  8  p.m. 


298  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

local  authorities.  In  1895,  the  County  Council  began  the 
purchase  of  lines  which  were  at  first  leased;  but  in  a  few 
years  the  policy  of  municipal  operation  was  begun,  and  since 
April,  1906,  most  of  the  tramways  within  the  county  of  London 
are  owned  and  operated  by  the  County  Council.  A  number 
of  lines  in  the  metropolitan  district,  but  outside  of  the  county 
of  London,  are  owned  and  operated  by  other  local  authorities, 
as  in  Croydon  and  East  Ham.  And  there  are  also  a  number 
of  small  private  companies,  and  oiie  company  of  considerable 
importance,  operating  lines  both  within  and  without  the 
county.  Thus  even  this  factor  in  the  methods  of  transpor- 
tation is  not  yet  organized  into  a  comprehensive  system. 

Much  the  most  important  part  of  the  tramway  net  is  that 
under  the  control  of  the  County  Council.  This  includes  over 
100  miles  of  track,  nearly  half  of  the  whole  track  mileage  in 
the  metropolitan  district,  and  carried,  in  1905,  300,000,000 
passengers,  or  two-tliirds  of  the  total  number  of  passengers 
(433,000,000)  in  the  metropolitan  district.  Fares  on  the 
County  Council  lines  range  from  a  halfpenny  to  threepence,  — 
more  than  four-fifths  of  the  passengers  paying  a  penny  or 
less,  and  the  average  fare  is  slightly  less  than  one  penny.  On 
most  of  the  other  lines,  both  private  and  municipal,  the  aver- 
age fare  is  something  more  than  a  penny ;  but  in  the  municipal 
lines  of  East  Ham,  the  average  fare  is  .64  of  a  penny.  The 
low  averages  are  due  largely  to  the  comparatively  short  dis- 
tances travelled;  and  the  difference  between  the  County 
Council  and  other  lines  may  be  ascribed  in  part,  at  least,  to 
the  advantages  of  the  larger  mileage  under  the  control  of 
the  former.  At  the  same  time  the  County  Council  can  claim 
the  advantages  of  a  better  service  and  of  halfpenny  fares  for 
very  short  distances. 

The  greatest  defects  in  the  London  tramway  service  are  due 
to  the  absence  of  through  hues  across  the  central  district 
and  the  lack  of  a  unified  management.  The  former  difficulty 
can  only  be  remedied  by  extensive  and  expensive  street 
widenings.    The  latter  can  now  be  most  easily  accomplished 


MUNICIPAL   ACTIVITIES    IN    GREAT    BRITAIN  299 

by  extending  the  jurisdiction  of  the  County  Council;  but  it 
seems  doubtful  whether  this  can  be  attained  at  present.  It 
should  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  possibilities  of  street 
railway  development  are  limited  by  the  other  means  of  local 
transportation. 

Underground  local  railways  were  constructed  and  operated 
in  London  long  before  they  appeared  in  other  large  cities; 
and  with  their  recent  development  they  form  one  of  the  three 
leading  factors  in  local  transportation.  The  early  Unes  were 
built  well  below  the  street  surface,  and  were  operated  by 
steam  engines ;  and  in  spite  of  the  darkness,  smoke,  and  other 
disagreeable  features  were  well  patronized.  Within  the 
last  half-dozen  years  a  new  series  of  underground  electric 
lines  have  been  constructed  in  subways  comparatively  near 
the  surface;  while  the  lines  of  the  old  metropolitan  and  dis- 
trict roads  have  also  been  electrified.  All  together  there  are 
now  130  miles  of  local  railroads  in  the  metropohtan  district, 
with  125  stations,  representing  a  capital  of  $350,000,000  and 
carrying  300,000,000  passengers  a  year. 

Rates  of  fare  on  the  older  lines  vary  according  to  distance, 
and  also  for  the  different  classes  of  carriages.  The  great 
bulk  of  the  passengers  travel  third  class,  and  the  average 
fare  paid  is  under  one  and  a  half  pence.  On  the  newer  lines 
the  uniform  fare  has  been  introduced,  and  is  regularly  fixed 
at  twopence.  These  rates  for  the  long-distance  local  traffic 
is  distinctly  lower  than  the  standard  five-cent  fare  in  Ameri- 
can cities.  But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  multi- 
plicity of  companies  and  lines  prevents  anything  like  a  com- 
prehensive system  of  transfers;  and  many  passengers  must 
regularly  pay  two  fares  for  each  journey. 

There  remains  the  local  service  of  the  trunk  railroads. 
The  ten  principal  railroad  companies  entering  London  have 
all  together  500  miles  of  passenger  tracks  and  386  passenger 
stations  in  the  metropolitan  district.  On  these,  local  trains 
are  in  constant  operation  at  special  rates  far  below  the  par- 
liamentary rate  of  a  penny  a  mile  on  the  through  trains; 


300  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

and  a  traffic  which  must  aggregate  several  hundreds  of  mill- 
ions of  passengers  is  carried.  But  no  separate  record  is 
kept  of  the  local  London  traffic  of  these  trunk  lines ;  and  only 
the  roughest  estimate  can  be  made  of  its  amount. 

If  all  the  available  data  be  combined,  with  estimates  for 
the  unknown  items,  the  total  local  passenger  traffic  in  the 
London  metropolitan  district  is  indicated  to  be  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  1,500,000,000  a  year,  or  over  200  journeys  per 
head.  The  various  means  of  transportation  thus  accommo- 
date to  a  vast  extent  the  pressing  demand,  and  on  the  whole 
at  rates  of  fare  that  seem  low  compared  with  American  stand- 
ards. Yet  it  must  be  admitted  that  conditions  are  far  from 
satisfactory;  and  there  seems  to  be  clear  need  for  some  more 
comprehensive  control  over  the  whole  question.  Neither 
public  nor  company  management  has  reached  the  stage  of 
consolidating  even  all  the  different  routes  of  one  method  of 
transportation;  and  it  does  not  seem  possible  that  this  can 
be  done  for  all  the  different  methods.  Probably  municipal 
tramways  and  companies  for  the  bus  lines  and  underground 
railways  will  be  the  prevailing  methods.  But  there  seems 
a  clear  need  for  some  public  authority  having  jurisdiction 
over  the  whole  metropolitan  area,  with  power  to  regulate 
the  future  development  of  new  routes  and  to  bring  the  differ- 
ent methods  of  transportation  into  closer  interrelations  with 
each  other. 

The  works  for  the  supply  of  electricity  to  London  also 
illustrate  the  dual  methods  of  municipal  and  company  man- 
agement. Sixteen  of  the  twenty-nine  metropolitan  boroughs 
and  cities  have  power  to  retail  electricity,  and  all  but  two 
of  these  operate  generating  plants.  At  the  same  time  there 
are  no  less  than  thirteen  electric  companies  operating  in  the 
administrative  county.  To  some  extent  these  different  au- 
thorities overlap.  In  two  boroughs  the  municipal  plant  is 
in  competition  with  a  company  plant;  and  in  ten  boroughs 
there  are  two  or  more  companies  in  competition.  Roughly 
speaking,  the  northern  and  western  districts  are  supplied 


MUNICIPAL   ACTIVITIES   IN    GREAT    BRITAIN  301 

by  municipal  plants,  and  the  central  and  southern  sections 
by  companies.  On  the  basis  of  population,  the  municipal 
plants  serve  the  larger  share  of  the  community;  but  the 
companies  have  the  central  districts  —  including  the  cities 
of  London  and  Westminster  and  the  borough  of  Holborn  — 
where  the  greatest  demand  exists ;  and  in  fact  the  companies 
supply  about  three-fourths  of  the  total  electrical  energy. 

There  are  two  main  methods  of  charging  for  current,  — 
the  flat  rate  and  the  maximum-demand  rate.  But  under 
either  method  there  are  variable  rates,  according  to  the  time 
or  the  amount  consumed,  which  make  difficult  a  comparison 
of  rates  from  different  plants.  For  the  companies  there  are 
maximum  rates  fixed  by  Parliament,  subject  to  reduction 
by  the  board  of  trade  at  intervals  of  seven  years;  but  in 
fact  none  of  the  companies  charge  the  maximum  rate.  The 
average  price  received  for  current  to  private  parties  from 
municipal  plants  in  1904  was  three  and  a  fourth  pence  per 
unit,  and  from  company  plants  a  little  over  fourpence;  but 
for  public  lighting  the  average  price  from  the  companies 
was  a  little  under  the  cost  in  municipal  plants. 

Comparing  the  financial  accounts  of  the  various  plants, 
the  working  expenses  of  the  municipal  and  company  plants, 
on  the  average,  are  the  same  per  unit  of  current,  but  two  of 
the  municipal  plants  show  a  very  high  working  expenditure, 
of  double  this  average.  In  the  payments  to  capital  for  in- 
terest and  dividends  the  municipal  plants  show  a  distinct 
saving ;  and  as  a  whole  their  surplus  is  as  large  in  proportion 
to  output  as  the  companies.  But  three  of  the  municipal 
plants  show  a  deficit,  and  in  one  other  case  the  surplus 
is  a  negligible  factor,  —  two  of  these  four  being  the  plants 
where  the  operating  expenses  are  unusually  high. 

As  the  net  result,  it  may  be  said  that  in  most  cases  the 
municipal  plants  show  a  fair  degree  of  success,  selling  cur- 
rent at  a  lower  rate  than  private  plants,  and  operating  the 
plants  at  a  financial  profit.  But  in  some  cases  the  financial 
results  are  not  successful.     On   the   other  hand,  the  higher 


302  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

rates  and  excessive  dividends  of  some  of  the  companies  indi- 
cate that  neither  competition  nor  public  control  has  been 
adequate.  Moreover,  the  multiplicity  of  plants  prevents  the 
development  of  the  most  economical  results;  while  the  two 
opposing  methods  of  management  hinder  the  establishment 
of  a  consolidated  system.  The  County  Council  has  proposed 
to  establish  a  central  generating  system;  but  this  extension 
of  municipal  activities  has  been  vigorously  opposed  by  the 
companies,  and  one  result  of  the  defeat  of  the  Progressists 
at  the  election  in  March,  1907,  will  be  at  least  the  postpone- 
ment of  any  steps  in  this  direction.* 

*  STATISTICS   OF   BLECTRICITY   PLANTS   IN    LONDON,  1904-05 

BoBOUQH  Councils  Companibs 

Capital £4,713,106  £12,257,449 

Revenue 433,562  1,682,627 

Working  Expenses 231,235  755,002 

Interest  and  Dividends 136,751  737,659 

Surplus             96,949  227,627 

Average  Price 

Private  Supply 3.25d.  4.06d. 

Public  Supply 2.06d.  1.99d. 


XVI 

MUNICIPAL  CONDITIONS  IN  SOME  EUROPEAN 

CITIES 

LOCAL  TRANSPORTATION  IN   BERLIN 

As  in  the  other  metropolitan  cities  of  Europe  and  America, 
so  in  Berlin  there  is  a  complicated  variety  in  the  means  of 
local  transportation.  The  largest  traffic  is  that  carried  by 
the  surface  street  railways.  But  omnibuses  still  do  a  con- 
siderable share  of  the  passenger  movement,  and  the  local 
steam  railway  service  is  of  rather  more  importance.  And 
there  is  also  a  combination  elevated  and  underground  road; 
while  the  cab  service  is  also  a  factor  in  the  situation. 

These  various  methods  of  transportation  also  illustrate 
different  methods  of  ownership  and  management.  But  for 
the  most  part  the  services  are  operated  by  private  companies. 
The  street  railway  lines  are  conducted  in  accordance  with 
carefully  drawn  franchises;  and  an  examination  of  these  is 
of  special  value  as  illustrating  what  can  be  accomplished 
under  the  franchise  policy  in  the  hands  of  a  competent  and 
honest  municipal  government. 

It  is  necessary,  however,  to  an  understanding  of  the  trans- 
portation situation,  to  keep  in  mind  that  the  urban  community 
to  be  served  includes  a  good  deal  more  than  that  within  the 
city  limits  of  Berlin.  The  population  within  the  city  limits 
in  February,  1906,  was  2,040,222.  But  including  the  adjacent 
suburbs,  among  which  are  the  important  cities  of  Charlotten- 
berg,  Schoneberg,  and  Rixdorf,  there  is  a  total  population 
of  2,993,470.  The  transportation  services  must  be  studied 
with  reference  to  the  whole  of  this  larger  community ;  although 
the  problem  is  complicated  by  the  absence  of  any  consoli- 
dated local  authority. 

Street  railways  were  not  introduced  into  Berlin  until  1866. 

303 


304  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

For  the  first  year  the  traffic  was  less  than  a  million  passen- 
gers, and  by  1873  had  increased  to  only  three  millions.  But 
in  the  next  three  years  the  traffic  jumped  to  twenty-six  mill- 
ions, double  the  omnibus  traffic,  and  since  then  has  increased 
steadily  and  rapidly.  In  the  late  nineties  the  lines  were  elec- 
trified ;  and  the  street  railway  traffic  in  1905  was  454,000,000, 
about  two-thirds  of  the  total  local  movement  of  passengers. 

There  are  still  a  number  of  different  street  railway  com- 
panies in  Berlin.  Much  the  most  important  is  the  Grosser 
Berliner  Strassenbahn  Gesellschaft,  which  operates  the  lines 
of  three  other  companies,  as  well  as  its  own.  The  existing 
contract  between  this  company  and  the  city  was  made  in 
1897,  when  new  arrangements  were  made  to  secure  the  use 
of  electric  power. 

This  contract  extended  the  rights  of  the  company  from 
1911  to  1919.  But  after  securing  the  grant  from  the  city, 
the  company  obtained  from  the  railway  department  in  the 
Prussian  government,  under  a  new  local  Railways  Act,  cer- 
tain grants  and  privileges  until  1949.  This  complicates  the 
situation,  and  makes  it  in  some  degree  similar  to  that  in 
Chicago  before  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  April 
of  last  year.  And  at  the  expiration  of  the  local  franchise 
in  1919  there  will  probably  be  litigation  to  determine  the 
exact  status  of  the  company. 

It  is  said  that  the  grant  from  the  state  was  largely  a  matter 
of  personal  favor,  as  the  head  of  the  company  is  an  ex-minister. 
Such  a  charge  is  a  serious  criticism  on  the  boasted  integrity 
of  the  Prussian  administration.  While  at  best  the  situation 
shows  a  spirit  of  interference  by  the  central  government  in 
local  matters,  such  as  has  been  one  of  the  great  difficulties 
in  American  municipal  affairs. 

The  contract  with  the  city  is  a  document  of  over  thirty 
printed  pages,  covering  many  details  in  regard  to  the  con- 
struction and  electrical  equipment  and  the  operation  of  the 
lines.  But  the  most  important  items  are  those  about  the 
rates  of  fare  and  payments  to  the  city. 


MUNICIPAL   CONDITIONS   IN   EUROPEAN   CITIES  305 

Within  the  city  limits  and  on  lines  extending  to  a  number 
of  the  suburbs,  a  uniform  fare  of  two  and  a  half  cents  is  estab- 
lished. This  is  a  little  higher  than  the  lowest  fares  for  short 
distances  in  Glasgow  and  some  of  the  other  British  cities. 
But  considering  distances,  it  probably  is  the  lowest  street 
railway  fare  in  the  world.  And  the  effect  is  seen  in  the  great 
development  of  traffic,  which  is  much  larger  in  Berlin  (in 
proportion  to  population)  than  in  any  other  European  city. 

"For  the  use  of  municipal  property"  (that  is,  the  streets), 
the  company  pays  the  city  eight  per  cent  of  the  gross  income 
from  the  lines  in  Berlin.  In  addition  it  is  provided  that  when 
the  net  income  on  the  capital  stock  of  1897  exceeds  twelve 
per  cent  (and  on  additional  stock  over  six  per  cent)  half  of 
the  surplus  will  go  to  the  city. 

These  provisions  are  in  addition  to  other  payments,  at 
rates  fixed  in  the  contract,  for  street  paving.  And  they  are 
also  entirely  independent  of  the  regular  state  and  local  taxes, 
which  are  levied  on  the  land  and  buildings  of  the  company, 
and  on  the  personal  incomes  of  the  stockholders.  But  there 
are  no  special  franchise  taxes,  such  as  are  now  levied  in  some 
American  states. 

Under  these  provisions  the  city  receives  a  very  considerable 
amount  of  revenue  —  in  fact,  a  good  deal  more  than  any 
other  city  receives  either  from  private  companies  or  in  the 
way  of  profits  from  a  municipal  system.  In  1905  the  com- 
pany paid  more  than  $600,000  as  the  eight  per  cent  of  its 
gross  income ;  and  in  addition,  since  1903,  it  has  paid  a  share 
of  its  surplus  earnings,  as  prescribed  in  the  agreement  with 
the  city. 

Besides  the  lines  operated  by  this  company  there  are  several 
other  small  companies,  while  three  lines  of  street  railway  are 
owned  by  the  city,  but  operated  by  the  Siemens  and  Halske 
Company.  But  the  total  passenger  movement  on  these  is 
comparatively  small.  Of  somewhat  more  importance  is  the 
combined  elevated  and  underground  electric  road,  which 
makes  a  partial  circuit  of  the  city,  but  does  not  reach  the 


306  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

business  district.  From  these  lines  additional  small  amounts 
are  paid  to  the  city  treasury. 

In  regard  to  the  quality  of  the  street  railway  service,  it 
cannot  be  called  more  than  moderately  good.  The  cars  are 
of  fair  size,  but  are  not  kept  as  clean  as  they  might  be.  And 
perhaps  owing  to  the  congestion  of  traffic,  the  cars  move 
very  slowly  in  the  central  districts  of  the  city.  A  subway 
under  some  of  the  principal  streets  is  much  needed,  and 
would  improve  the  situation  a  great  deal. 

Next  in  importance  to  the  street  railways  is  the  local  steam 
railway  service,  which  is  part  of  the  Prussian  system  of  state 
railways.  In  1882  the  government  opened  for  service  an 
elevated  steam  railway  running  east  and  west  through  the 
heart  of  the  city.  This  Stadibahn  is  used  both  for  through 
and  local  trains.  Two  tracks  are  reserved  for  through  trains 
from  the  east  and  west,  which  stop  at  five  of  the  more  impor- 
tant stations.  Two  other  tracks  are  used  only  for  local  trains, 
which  make  stops  at  intervals  of  about  half  a  mile. 

This  line  through  the  city  has  since  been  supplemented 
by  two  lines  around  the  urban  district,  one  making  the  cir- 
cuit to  the  north,  and  the  other  to  the  south.  Alternate 
trains  on  the  central  line  run  via  the  north  and  south  rings. 

Both  Stadt  and  Ringhahn  are  as  solidly  and  expensively 
constructed  as  the  main  lines  of  railroad,  and  the  stations 
are  large  and  convenient.  Fares,  too,  are  low  —  from  two 
and  a  half  to  five  cents,  third  class.  But  the  trains  are  too 
long  and  not  frequent  enough,  and  the  service  is  provokingly 
slow.  Nevertheless,  124,000,000  passengers  were  carried  in 
1905.  But  with  electrical  equipment,  and  shorter,  more 
frequent,  and  more  rapid  trains,  a  vastly  larger  traffic  could 
be  accommodated. 

Omnibus  traffic  is  still  of  considerable  importance  in  Berlin. 
Regular  lines  of  omnibuses  began  running  in  1846;  and  the 
traffic  increased  steadily  to  14,000,000  passengers  in  1874. 
Then  it  fell  off  for  a  few  years,  as  the  main  street  railway 
lines  came  into  operation,  and  took  a  subordinate  place.     But 


MUNICIPAL   CONDITIONS   IN   EUROPEAN   CITIES 


307 


from  1880  to  1900  the  omnibus  traffic  increased  at  a  faster 
rate  than  the  street  railway;  and  since  then  it  continues  to 
gain  gradually.     In  1905  there  were  111,000,000  passengers. 

A  significant  feature  of  the  bus  traffic  in  recent  years  is 
that  it  is  mainly  for  short  distances,  for  which  the  fare  is  only 
five  pfennigs,  or  half  the  lowest  street  railway  fare.  More 
than  three-fourths  of  the  passengers  are  of  this  class.  It 
seems  probable  that  a  similar  system  of  busses  with  cheap 
fares  for  short  distance  might  develop  a  considerable  traffic 
in  American  cities.  During  the  past  year  a  number  of  gaso- 
line motor  busses  have  been  introduced,  and  these  may 
replace  the  horse  busses  in  a  few  years. 

In  America  it  would  seem  absurd  to  consider  cab  traffic  as 
an  appreciable  factor  in  local  transportation.  But  it  is  such 
in  Berlin  and  other  European  cities.  Under  the  taximeter 
system,  now  mainly  used,  a  ride  for  one  or  two  persons  costs 
12 J  cents  for  800  metres,  or  approximately  half  a  mile;  and 
an  additional  2^  cents  for  each  additional  400  meters. 

No  exact  record  of  the  number  of  cab  passengers  can  be 
given.  But  there  are  over  8000  cabs  in  commission,  four 
times  as  many  as  in  1865.  And  at  the  low  estimate  of  ten 
passengers  each  per  day,  the  total  yearly  traffic  amounts  to 
30,000,000.  This  is  not  a  large  proportion  of  the  total 
movement  of  700,000,000  passengers  in  1905,  but  it  is  worth 
noting  as  one  part  of  the  situation. 

The  table  below  shows  briefly  the  development  of  the 
principal  methods  of  transportation :  — 


Cabs 

Busses 

Passengers 

Omnibuses 

Street 
Railways 

Stadt  and 

RiNGBAHN 

1865 

2260 

192 

1866 

2423 

208 

12,502,337 

960,551 

1874 

4190 

159 

14,696,976 

8,758,153 

1880 

4733 

167 

10,781,391 

51,557,037 

1882 

4128 

134 

13,696,560 

65,218,792 

9,347,850 

1890 

5488 

241 

27,804,123 

140,957,271 

33,891,912 

1900 

8100 

662 

80,568,714 

280,349,160 

80,409,436 

1905 

8093 

111,000,000 

454,000,000 

124,000,000 

308  ESSAYS    IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

Summarizing  the  Berlin  transportation  situation  as  a  whole, 
the  most  unsatisfactory  features  are  the  number  of  separate 
operating  companies,  and  the  uncertainty  as  to  the  future 
rights  of  the  principal  company  under  the  grant  from  the 
central  government.  But  in  the  extension  of  facilities  and 
the  development  of  traffic,  Berlin  makes  a  much  better  show- 
ing than  any  of  the  other  large  cities  of  Europe,  and  compares 
favorably  with  American  cities.  While  in  cheapness  of 
fares  and  financial  benefit  to  the  city  treasury,  Berlin  seems 
to  be  in  a  better  position  than  any  other  city,  European  or 
American. 

These  results  show  what  can  be  accomplished  under  a 
franchise  system.  And  in  many  respects  they  are  better 
than  under  any  system  of  municipal  ownership  and  opera- 
tion. But  they  are  also  better  than  in  any  other  city  where 
the  franchise  system  prevails. 

LEIPZIG 

Leipzig  is,  next  to  Hamburg,  the  largest  German  city  which 
is  not  at  the  same  time  the  capital  of  an  important  state. 
And  it  is  of  interest  to  note,  at  least  briefly,  how  the  munici- 
pal government  is  affected  by  the  fact  that  the  city  is  not 
the  seat  of  the  central  government  nor  the  residence  of  the 
royal  family. 

In  the  capitals  many  of  the  attractive  features  of  the  cities 
are  due  to  the  presence  of  the  reigning  houses  and  the  govern- 
ment. In  their  absence,  Leipzig  has  less  to  show  in  the 
way  of  palaces  and  museums  than  Dresden,  which  has  about 
the  same  population.  But  in  other  respects  there  is  little 
difference  in  the  institutions  that  affect  the  residents  of  the 
city. 

As  usual,  the  old  city  contains  narrow  and  irregular  streets. 
But  there  has  been  much  reconstruction  work,  notably  the 
boulevard  ring  which  forms  a  complete  circle  of  small  parks 
around  the  inner  town.  Nor  are  architectural  features 
wanting.     On  the  ring  are  the  massive  new  city  hall  and  the 


MUNICIPAL   CONDITIONS   IN   EUROPEAN   CITIES  309 

main  buildings  of  the  university.  Near  by  are  the  university 
library  and  the  building  of  the  imperial  supreme  court.  All 
of  these  are  imposing  and  ornamental  structures,  which 
improve  the  appearance  of  the  city. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  the  absence  of  the  central  government 
and  the  royal  family,  the  police  in  Leipzig  are  under  the 
immediate  control  of  the  municipal  authorities.  The  Saxon 
government,  however,  exercises  supervision  over  the  local 
police,  but  at  the  same  time  grants  to  the  city  about  one- 
fourth  of  the  cost  of  the  police  department.  In  America 
opposition  to  state  control  of  the  police  might  be  lessened  if 
the  state  also  shared  in  the  expense. 

Leipzig  has  not  adopted  the  policy  of  municipalization 
quite  so  extensively  as  some  other  German  cities.  It  has 
municipal  water-  and  gas-  works;  and  also  slaughter-houses 
and  public  markets.  But  the  street  railways  and  electric 
plants  are  operated  by  two  private  companies. 

The  first  street  railway  company  began  operation  in  1872, 
and  in  1896  its  lines  were  electrified.  In  the  latter  year 
a  new  electric  road  was  also  put  into  operation.  Both  lines 
have  since  been  extended,  and  there  are  now  over  one  hundred 
miles  of  street  railway  lines.  The  fare  is  2|  cents,  and  there 
are  over  70,000,000  passengers  carried.  This  is  50  per  cent 
more  than  in  Munich,  which  has  a  larger  population  than 
Leipzig,  and  is  higher  in  proportion  to  population  than  in 
Vienna. 

MUNICH 

In  many  ways  Munich  suggests  Vienna  on  a  smaller  scale. 
Both  are  South  German  capitals  that  were  places  of  impor- 
tance long  before  the  rise  of  Berlin  and  other  cities  in  northern 
Germany.  And  both  have  grown  rapidly  during  the  past 
fifty  years.  So  that  they  combine  some  feature  of  a  mediaeval 
city  with  those  of  a  modern  municipality.  Munich,  however, 
has  comparatively  little  manufacturing  industry  or  commerce, 
and  in  this  respect  may  be  compared  to  Washington  in  the 
United  States. 


310  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

The  municipal  organization  of  Munich  illustrates  the  com- 
mon features  of  German  cities;  but  there  are  also  some  pro- 
visions peculiar  to  the  Bavarian  law.  Although  the  Bava- 
rian house  of  representatives  is  elected  by  universal  suffrage, 
the  municipal  electorate  is  restricted  by  a  considerable  tax 
qualification,  so  that  there  are  only  30,000  voters  in  a  popu- 
lation of  half  a  million.  But  there  is  no  division  of  the  voters 
into  classes,  as  in  Prussia  and  Austria. 

Even  with  the  limited  electorate  there  are  three  active 
parties,  the  Centre,  the  Liberals,  and  the  Social-democrats, 
the  smallest  of  which  polls  nearly  a  fourth  of  the  votes.  In 
the  aggregate  party  vote  in  municipal  elections,  the  Centre, 
or  Clericals,  have  a  considerable  plurality.  But  the  members 
of  the  municipal  council  are  elected  by  districts;  and  the 
party  vote  is  so  distributed  that  for  the  past  twenty  years 
the  Liberals  have  had  a  strong  majority  in  the  council.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Centre  has  an  overwhelming  majority 
in  the  Bavarian  house  of  representatives;  and  although  they 
do  not  control  the  ministers,  they  are  able  to  restrict  the 
local  government  to  some  extent. 

Members  of  the  municipal  council  are  elected  for  a  term 
of  nine  years,  one-third  every  three  years.  So  this  body 
changes  even  more  slowly  than  in  other  German  states. 
There  is  also,  however,  as  in  Prussian  cities,  a  magistracy  con- 
sisting in  part  of  permanent  professional  officials,  and  in  part 
of  citizens.  Both  classes  of  magistrates  are  chosen  by  the 
municipal  council,  but  the  professional  salaried  officials 
must  be  confirmed  by  the  central  government.  The  mayor 
is  one  of  the  professional  officials,  and  like  the  others  in  this 
class,  is  selected  for  life. 

Physical  reconstruction  of  the  older  part  of  Munich  was 
begun  before  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century;  and 
perhaps  on  that  account  has  not  been  so  thoroughly  accom- 
plished as  in  Vienna.  The -parked  boulevard  which  occupies 
the  site  of  the  old  fortifications  makes  only  a  partial  circuit 
of  the  old  town,  and   many  narrow  and   irregular   streets 


MUNICIPAL   CONDITIONS   IN   EUROPEAN   CITIES  311 

still  survive.  Several  of  the  old  city  gates  have  purposely 
been  left  standing  for  their  picturesque  effect.  But  the  new 
sections  of  the  city  have  been  well  laid  out,  with  broad  and 
well-paved  streets. 

Indeed,  in  the  matter  of  paving,  Munich  has  adopted  the 
latest  methods  more  rapidly  than  Vienna.  In  recent  years 
there  has  been  laid  many  miles  of  asphalt  and  a  good  deal 
of  creosoted  wooden  blocks.  There  is  also  a  large  amount 
of  macadam.  So  that  the  travelling  on  most  of  the  streets  is 
much  more  comfortable  than  on  the  granite  blocks  of  other 
cities. 

Besides  the  parked  boulevards  there  are  a  considerable 
number  of  public  gardens  and  larger  parks.  Many  of  these, 
however,  are  not  municipal,  but  belong  to  the  royal  family. 
And  as  in  other  capitals,  the  palaces,  museums,  and  govern- 
ment buildings  help  to  improve  the  general  appearance  and 
attractiveness  of  the  city. 

Like  most  German  cities,  Munich  has  municipal  slaughter- 
houses and  markets,  and  more  recently  gas  and  electric 
works.  But  these  are  of  course  on  a  smaller  scale  than  in 
Vienna.  The  electric  plants  are  the  most  important,  as  they 
supply  practically  all  the  electrical  energy  in  the  city,  in- 
cluding that  for  the  operation  of  the  street  railways.  There 
are  two  large  generating  plants,  with  a  number  of  substations 
where  the  high  tension  current  is  transformed  to  a  lower 
voltage  for  light  and  power  purposes.  All  wires  are  under- 
ground, except  those  for  the  street  cars. 

Street  railways  are  still  operated  by  a  private  company. 
The  original  franchise  was  granted  in  1857  for  fifty  years; 
but  there  have  been  a  number  of  subsequent  contracts  pro- 
viding for  extensions  and  the  use  of  electric  power.  All  of 
these,  however,  expire  with  the  original  franchise  in  1907, 
when  the  question  whether  to  lease  or  undertake  municipal 
operation  will  be  decided,  probably  in  favor  of  municipal 
operation. 

Munich  has  tried  the  American  uniform  fare,  and  aban- 


312  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTEATION 

doned  it  to  return  to  the  zone  system.  When  the  street 
railway  system  was  electrified,  the  contract  then  made  with 
the  city  provided  for  a  uniform  fare  of  ten  pfennigs  or  2| 
cents;  but  the  city  guaranteed  a  certain  net  income  to  the 
company,  estimated  to  be  about  10  per  cent  of  their  capital. 
Traffic  increased,  but  not  enough  to  yield  this  net  income, 
and  the  city  had  to  pay  considerable  sums  to  the  company. 
After  a  few  years,  a  new  contract  was  made  providing  for 
fares  ranging  from  2|  to  5  cents.  The  number  of  passengers 
carried  fell  off  from  45,000,000  to  less  than  40,000,000  a  year, 
and  has  not  yet  regained  the  former  figure. 

Both  in  speed  and  comfort  the  service  falls  somewhat 
short  of  that  in  Vienna.  But  although  the  company's  rights 
expire  in  a  year,  conditions  are  vastly  better  than  in  Chicago, 
where  the  companies  allowed  their  plant  to  run  down  as  the 
time  for  the  expiration  of  their  franchises  drew  near.  That 
conditions  are  better  in  Munich  is  doubtless  due  to  the  stipu- 
lations in  the  contracts  made  from  time  to  time. 

One  of  the  interesting  municipal  establishments  in  Munich 
is  the  principal  public  bath-house.  This  is  a  handsome 
building  on  the  banks  of  the  Isar,  erected  a  few  years  ago  at 
a  cost  of  $500,000.  Three-fourths  of  this  amount,  however, 
was  a  gift,  and  only  one-fourth  came  from  the  city  funds. 

Within  are  bathing  accommodations  of  every  kind:  a 
swimming  pool,  shower  baths,  warm  private  baths,  Turkish 
baths,  and  a  bathing  place  for  dogs.  Small  fees  are  charged, 
two  and  a  half  cents  for  a  shower  bath,  four  cents  for  the 
swimming  pool,  twelve  and  a  half  cents  for  a  private  bath, 
and  thirty  cents  for  a  Turkish  bath.  The  income  pays 
something  more  than  operating  expenses,  but  would  not  cover 
interest  on  the  investment  if  that  had  been  borrowed.  More 
than  600,000  persons  take  baths  in  this  establishment  every 
year. 

BUDAPEST 

Americans  are  apt  to  assume  that  western  civilization  is 
confined  to  the  countries  where  Germanic  and  Latin  peoples 


MUNICIPAL   CONDITIONS   IN   EUROPEAN   CITIES  313 

form  a  large  part  of  the  population,  and  that  modem  mu- 
nicipal conditions  are  not  to  be  found  east  of  Vienna.  But 
even  the  briefest  visit  to  Budapest,  the  capital  and  largest 
city  of  Hungary,  shows  that  it  is  a  municipality  of  the  first 
rank,  with  material  improvements  beyond  those  of  most 
American  cities.  And  its  institutions  and  municipal  under- 
takings well  deserve  investigation,  in  spite  of  the  difficulties 
of  distance  and  language. 

Budapest  is  a  city  of  750,000  inhabitants,  four-fifths  of 
whom  have  been  added  since  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  It  is  therefore  not  much  larger,  and  is  practically 
no  older,  than  St.  Louis.  And  its  geographical  position  on 
the  banks  of  a  mighty  continental  river,  and  in  the  centre  of 
an  immense  agricultural  region,  is  also  similar  to  that  of 
the  chief  city  of  Missouri.  But  in  almost  everything  that 
goes  to  make  a  city  comfortable  and  attractive,  the  Hungarian 
capital  far  surpasses  its  American  counterpart. 

Some  part  of  the  pleasing  impression  that  the  city  gives 
to  the  visitor  is  undoubtedly  due  to  natural  features  and  the 
public  buildings  of  the  national  government.  St.  Louis  has 
nothing  to  compare  with  the  castle  hill  and  royal  palaces  on 
the  right  side  of  the  Danube,  or  the  Parliament  building  on 
the  left  bank.  But,  apart  from  these,  the  more  distinctly 
municipal  features  of  Budapest  are  much  more  attractive, 
and  give  the  city  a  more  finished  appearance.  While  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi  at  St.  Louis  remain  neglected  so  far 
as  architectural  appearances  are  concerned,  those  of  the 
Danube  at  Budapest  are  lined  with  massive  stone  embank- 
ments and  quays  for  shipping.  Along  the  water  front  on  each 
side  runs  a  river  street,  behind  which  are  some  of  the  largest 
and  finest  buildings  in  the  city.  Five  bridges  span  the  river, 
connecting  the  two  parts  of  the  city;  and  these  are  not  only 
useful,  but  are  also  artistic  structures.  The  river  front  thus 
forms  one  of  the  most  inviting  parts  of  the  city;  and  the 
constant  movement  of  steamers  and  large  steel  freight  barges 
add  a  further  element  of  variety  to  the  panorama. 


314  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

Turning  from  the  river,  the  street  system  of  Budapest  is 
well  planned,  with  broad,  main  thoroughfares  laid  out  with 
reference  to  the  lines  of  traffic,  and  side  streets  of  comfortable 
width.  There  is  no  evidence  in  most  of  the  city  of  the 
narrow  lanes  which  are  usual  in  most  European  cities,  and 
are  also  to  be  found  in  the  older  parts  of  some  American  cities. 
The  street  pavements  are  solidly  constructed  and  clean;  but 
the  large  granite  blocks  most  generally  used  are  too  rough. 
On  some  streets  more  recently  paved,  asphalt  and  creosoted 
wooden  blocks  in  concrete  have  been  laid.  Electric  street 
cars  operated  by  private  companies  are  frequent  and  com- 
fortable. On  some  lines  the  overhead  trolley  is  used;  but 
in  most  streets  there  are  no  overhead  wires,  and  the  under- 
trolley  is  used,  as  in  New  York  and  Washington,  but  with 
the  underground  conduit  under  one  -of  the  rails  instead  of 
between  them.  In  Budapest,  too,  is  the  first  subway  built 
for  street-car  traffic,  from  which  the  larger  American  sub- 
ways in  Boston  and  New  York  have  clearly  been  modelled. 
It  is  built  under  Andrassy  Street,  one  of  the  broad  avenues 
which  forms  the  principal  approach  to  the  city  park,  and 
was  placed  underground  so  as  to  retain  this  approach  for 
pleasure  driving. 

The  city  park,  on  the  west  side  of  the  city,  is  compara- 
tively small,  but  tastefully  arranged.  It  contains  a  mena- 
gerie, a  small  art  museum,  and  a  summer  theatre,  and  also 
refreshment  houses.  A  much  larger  and  more  popular  park 
is  St.  Margaret's  Island  in  the  Danube,  owned  and  embel- 
lished by  one  of  the  grand  dukes,  but  open  to  the  general 
public. 

Budapest  is  celebrated  for  its  public  baths  and  also  for 
its  hospitals,  with  which  it  is  better  supplied  than  any  other 
city  of  its  size.  The  hospitals  are  supported  by  the  city, 
but  are  practically  national  institutions,  and  the  municipality 
is  now  asking  the  national  government  at  least  to  share  in 
the  expense  of  their  management. 

The   sphere  of   municipal   autonomy   does  not,  however, 


BfUNICIPAL   CONDITIONS   IN   EUROPEAN   CITIES  315 

include  the  control  over  the  local  police.  There  is  a  national 
force  of  gendarmerie,  and  also  the  Royal  Hungarian  Police; 
and  there  is  not  even  a  supplementary  force  of  municipal 
guards,  as  in  the  Italian  cities. 

An  imposing  city  hall  is  not  included  among  the  noteworthy 
buildings  of  Budapest.  The  municipal  government  is  housed 
in  an  old  barracks,  which  furnishes  adequate  room  for  the 
various  city  officials.  And  from  here  the  municipal  house- 
keeping is  efficiently  directed. 


XVII 

MUNICIPAL  GOVERNMENT  IN  VIENNA 

With  all  that  has  been  published  in  America  about  Euro- 
pean municipal  government,  Vienna  has  been  largely  ignored. 
Yet  even  a  brief  examination  is  enough  to  show  that  this, 
the  fourth  largest  city  in  Europe,  is  also  one  of  the  most 
important  in  its  municipal  development.  Especially  is  this 
true  of  the  last  decade,  during  which  it  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  its  municipal  history  has  been  of  greater  significance 
than  that  of  any  other  city  in  Europe. 

Some  explanation  may  be  offered  for  this  neglect  of  Vienna. 
The  city  is  out  of  the  way  of  the  great  tides  of  American 
travel ;  and  most  of  the  Americans  who  visit  it  are  not  those 
likely  to  be  interested  in  municipal  institutions.  Moreover, 
the  general  history  of  Austria  during  the  past  forty  years 
conveys  the  impression  that  the  country  is  not  affected  by 
political  movements  in  western  Europe.  The  loss  of  inter- 
national prestige  since  the  military  defeat  at  Koniggratz, 
the  internal  race  conflicts  and  the  disputes  with  Hungary, 
and  the  absence  (until  within  a  year)  of  any  step  in  the  direc- 
tion of  democratic  suffrage,  all  suggest  a  situation  where 
political  development  of  any  kind  is  likely  to  be  unknown. 

Nevertheless,  to  repeat,  during  this  period  of  forty  years, 
and  more  particularly  in  the  last  ten  years,  Vienna  has  a 
remarkable  record  in  its  municipal  affaire;  and  the  same  is 
true  in  a  smaller  way  of  the  other  large  cities  of  Austria. 
Municipal  autonomy  has  been  more  fully  established  than 
in  any  other  country  of  continental  Europe;  and  indeed  — 
except  for  the  police  in  a  few  of  the  largest  cities  —  more 
fully  than  in  England  or  the  United  States.  Population 
and  material  prosperity  have  greatly  increased.     Physical 

316 


MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT   IN   VIENNA  317 

reconstruction  and  public  improvements  have  been  carried 
out  on  a  stupendous  scale.  In  the  later  years,  municipal 
ownership  of  public  utilities  has,  for  good  or  ill,  been  rapidly 
established,  until  Vienna  has  more  municipalized  undertak- 
ings than  any  other  city  of  its  size.  And  these  later  develop- 
ments in  Vienna  have  been  the  direct  result  of  a  highly  exciting 
movement  in  local  politics. 

HOME  RULE  AND   LOCAL  ORGANIZATION 

Municipal  autonomy,  or  home  rule,  was  provided  for  Aus- 
trian cities  by  a  statute  of  1849,  enacted  as  a  result  of  the 
revolutionary  uprisings  of  the  year  before.  But  the  reestab- 
lishment  of  a  reactionary  policy  led  to  a  postponement  in 
the  application  of  the  statute;  and  it  did  not  become  effec- 
tive until  after  the  grant  of  provincial  autonomy  and  the 
establishment  of  provincial  legislatures  in  1860.  The  control 
over  municipal  government  was  then  transferred  to  the  new 
provincial  diets,  although  the  management  of  the  police  in 
Vienna,  Trieste,  and  Prague  was  retained  under  the  imperial 
government. 

At  this  time  the  municipal  electorate  was  narrowly  restricted 
by  a  considerable  tax  qualification,  and  in  Vienna  there 
were  only  18,000  voters.  In  1867  and  again  in  1885  the  tax 
limit  was  reduced,  increasing  the  number  of  voters  in  the 
latter  year  to  more  than  50,000.  The  voters  were,  moreover, 
divided  into  three  classes,  according  to  the  amount  of  taxes 
paid,  so  that  the  wealthier  citizens  had  an  influence  much 
greater  than  their  numbers.  But  the  basis  of  the  class  divi- 
sions is  different  from  that  in  the  Prussian  system.  In  Austria 
it  is  dependent  on  the  payment  of  a  fixed  amount  of  taxes; 
so  that  with  the  increase  of  wealth  the  number  of  voters  in 
the  upper  classes  tends  to  incease,  while  under  the  Prussian 
system  there  is  a  steady  reduction. 

Important  changes  were  made  in  the  municipal  organiza- 
tion of  Vienna  in  1890.  The  city  boundaries  were  further 
extended  to  include  the  outlying  suburbs;   and  at  the  same 


318  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

time  a  fourth  class  of  voters  was  established,  including  prac- 
tically all  men  who  had  a  fixed  residence  in  the  city.  But 
this  fourth  class,  which  numbers  nearly  two-thirds  of  the 
whole  electorate,  chooses  only  twenty-one  members  of  the 
municipal  council,  while  the  other  three  classes  each  elect 
forty-eight  members.  The  electoral  system  is  thus  still  far 
from  an  equal  democracy. 

The  entire  council  consists  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-five 
members,  elected  for  terms  of  six  years,  one-third  retiring 
every  second  year.  They  are  elected  in  twenty-one  perma- 
nent districts,  which  represent  the  various  historical  com- 
munes which  make  up  the  present  city.  Each  district  elects 
at  least  one  member  from  each  class  of  voters;  and  each 
district  elects  only  one  member  from  the  fourth  class.  For 
the  three  upper  classes  the  number  of  members  from  each 
district  varies  according  to  the  distribution  of  population  in 
each  class.  Thus  the  wealthier  districts  elect  several  mem- 
bers from  the  first  class;  some  districts  elect  a  number  from 
the  second  class;  and  some  elect  several  members  from  the 
third  class. 

As  in  European  cities  generally,  the  municipal  council  as 
a  whole  does  not  attend  to  the  details  of  administration, 
but  meets  to  vote  appropriations  and  taxes,  to  decide  on 
important  questions  of  policy,  to  elect  officials,  and  to  receive 
and  examine  the  reports  of  the  municipal  services.  The 
scope  of  its  action  is  not  limited  by  statute ;  but  it  can  under- 
take any  service  it  considers  for  the  good  of  the  city,  provided 
only  it  does  not  conflict  with  the  higher  governmental  admin- 
istration, and  with  the  requirement  that  loans  or  the  sale  of 
city  property  must  be  approved  by  the  government.  The 
broad  field  of  activity  left  to  it  may  be  indicated  by  noting 
the  fact  that  the  recent  municipalization  of  gas,  electric 
lighting,  and  street  railways  were  all  determined  by  a  vote 
of  the  council,  with  no  special  imperial  or  provincial  legisla- 
tion, and  also  without  any  direct  popular  vote. 

Meetings  of  the  council  were  formerly  held  about  once  a 


MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT    IN    VIENNA  319 

week;  but  since  the  creation  of  the  Stadtrath,  they  have 
been  less  frequent,  and  now  occur  about  once  in  two  weeks. 

The  Stadtrath,  a  body  established  in  1890,  is  very  different 
from  the  Prussian  board  of  municipal  magistrates  sometimes 
called  by  the  same  name.  In  Vienna  it  is  a  smaller  council, 
or  a  large  committee  of  the  council,  consisting  of  thirty-one 
members  (including  the  burgomasters)  elected  for  terms  of 
six  years.  It  contains  none  of  the  permanent  technical  and 
professional  officials  of  the  city.  It  meets  about  three  times 
a  week,  appoints  permanent  officials,  and  exercises  a  general 
supervision  over  current  administration.  It  has  two  standing 
committees,  one  on  the  law  of  citizenship,  and  one  on  the 
discipline  of  municipal  officials  and  employees. 

A  burgomaster  and  three  vice-burgomasters  are  elected  by 
the  general  council  from  its  own  members,  for  terms  of  six 
years.  The  burgomaster  presides  over  the  general  council 
and  the  Stadtrath,  and  is  in  practice  the  leader  of  the  coun- 
cil in  its  public  policy.  He  is  a  political  official ;  and  not,  as 
in  the  German  Empire,  a  technical  administrator,  often  chosen 
for  life.  Under  the  statute  the  election  of  burgomaster 
must  be  confirmed  by  the  imperial  government;  but  recent 
history  shows  that  in  a  contest  between  the  council  and  the 
government,  the  government  will  eventually  yield. 

In  addition  to  these  political  elements,  there  is  also  the 
permanent,  professional  and  technical,  executive  officers  and 
■employees.  The  chief  of  these  is  the  "  Magistrats-Direktor," 
who  with  the  heads  of  the  various  departments  correspond 
somewhat  to  the  administrative  officials  in  Prussian  cities. 
But  in  Vienna  these  are  distinctly  executive  officers  to  carry 
out  the  policy  of  the  municipal  council.  The  magistrates 
are  elected  by  the  Stadtrath;  but  as  their  positions  are  per- 
manent, changes  can  only  be  made  as  vacancies  occur. 

A  few  words  must  also  be  said  about  the  municipal  dis- 
tricts. These  are  not  only  the  districts  for  electing  the  mem- 
bers of  the  council,  but  are  also  districts  for  local  adminis- 
tration with  a  sphere  of  local  autonomy.    They  are  thus  of 


320  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

more  importance  than  the  arrondissements  of  Paris,  but  of 
less  than  the  metropolitan  boroughs  of  London.  In  each 
district  there  is  elected  a  small  council  (from  eighteen  to 
thirty  members)  by  the  voters  of  the  first  three  classes,  and 
each  district  council  elects  a  district  chairman  {hezirks- 
vorsteher).  These  bodies  manage  local  public  works,  such 
as  street  paving  and  cleaning;  while  the  members  also 
cooperate  with  the  central  city  departments  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  poor  relief  and  the  work  of  school  inspection. 

THE   LIBERAL  REGIME 

The  foundations  of  modern  Vienna  were  laid  in  the  seven- 
ties and  early  eighties,  during  the  ascendency  of  the  Liberals 
in  both  local  and  imperial  governments.  During  this  period 
vast  schemes  of  reconstruction  were  carried  out,  new  public 
works  and  buildings  were  constructed  on  a  magnificent  scale, 
surpassing  even  the  Haussmannizing  of  Paris  under  the 
Second  Empire.  Around  the  inner  city,  on  the  site  of  the 
old  fortifications,  was  laid  out  the  Ring  Strasse,  one  hundred 
and  eighty  feet  in  width.  Within  the  inner  city,  streets  were 
straightened  and  widened.  In  what  was  then  the  suburbs, 
street  plans  for  the  extension  of  the  city  were  elaborately 
worked  out.  And  a  new  water-supply  was  brought  from 
a  distance  of  seventy  miles. 

In  addition  to  such  distinctly  municipal  improvements, 
there  was  constructed  —  largely  by  the  emperor  himself  — 
the  series  of  new  public  buildings  and  parks  on  both  sides 
of  the  Ring  Strasse  which  make  it  "  the  finest  street  in  the 
world."  In  the  centre  of  one  group  is  the  city  hall,  facing  a 
small  park,  flanked  on  one  side  by  the  Parliament  building, 
and  on  the  other  by  the  University.  Opposite  is  the  Court 
Theatre,  and  next  to  this  the  gardens  of  the  imperial  court. 
East  of  the  gardens  is  the  imperial  palace;  and  opposite  it 
the  new  court  house  and  the  museums  of  art  and  natural 
history.  Still  further  around  the  Ring  are  the  imperial  opera- 
house  and  the  original  municipal  park.    Moreover,  through- 


MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT   IN   VIENNA  321 

out  the  city,  public  parks  and  gardens  have  been  established, 
some  by  the  city,  some  by  the  emperor,  and  some  by  other 
members  of  the  nobility. 

To  describe  the  achievements  of  this  period  would  leave 
no  space  for  recent  developments.  But  this  brief  mention 
has  been  necessary  to  convey  some  impression  of  the  general 
appearance  of  the  city,  and  the  basis  on  which  the  later  en- 
terprises have  been  undertaken.  The  foundations  were  well 
laid,  and  as  a  place  to  live  in  Vienna  is  one  of  the  most  com- 
fortable and  attractive  cities  in  the  world. 

THE   CHRISTIAN   SOCIALISTS 

As  has  been  already  noted,  the  recent  expansion  of  munici- 
pal functions  in  Vienna  has  been  the  direct  result  of  a  political 
movement.  This  has  been  the  rise  to  power  of  the  Christian 
Socialist  party,  whose  policy  in  some  respects  seems  a  reaction 
from  the  former  Uberalism,  but  at  the  same  time  may  seem 
to  some  to  be  in  the  direction  of  radical  socialism. 

Among  the  working-classes  of  Vienna  the  socialistic  propa- 
ganda spreading  throughout  Europe  has  been  accepted  to 
some  extent.  And  the  Social-democratic  party  has  for  some 
time  been  an  active  demonstrative  organization,  but  (before 
the  latest  election)  with  little  influence  either  in  local  or 
national  government.  The  Christian  Socialist  party  is  en- 
tirely distinct  from  the  Social-democrats;  and  in  fact,  at  the 
present  time,  these  are  the  two  main  opposing  parties  in 
Vienna. 

The  Christian  Socialist  party  has  been  formed  on  the  basis 
of  religious,  racial,  and  economic  convictions  or  prejudices, 
fused  and  welded  by  the  organizing  ability  of  Karl  Lueger, 
its  undisputed  leader  and  for  the  last  ten  years  burgomaster 
of  Vienna.  On  the  religious  side  it  is  intensely  clerical, 
strongly  supporting  and  supported  by  the  Catholic  Church. 
The  racial  factor  is  entirely  distinct  from  the  more  general 
race  questions  in  Austria,  and  is  a  strong  anti-semitic  senti- 
ment, fostered  by  the  large  number  and  growing  influence  of 


322  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTEATION 

the  Jews  in  Vienna.  Its  economic  basis  is  the  opposition  of 
the  great  body  of  small  traders  and  merchants  to  the  power 
of  the  great  industries  and  wealthy  capitalists,  which  have 
been  apparently  promoted  by  the  policy  of  the  Liberals. 
Each  of  these  considerations  appeals  most  strongly  to  the 
middle  classes,  with  whom  the  bulk  of  electoral  power  has 
rested,  but  the  party  also  includes  large  numbers  of  the  labor- 
ing classes,  and  now  also  many  of  the  wealthy  as  the  main 
bulwark  against  the  more  radical  socialists. 

Karl  Lueger,  who  has  combined  these  factors  into  a  highly 
organized  and  disciplined  party,  is  a  man  of  striking  per- 
sonality. The  son  of  a  lower  middle-class  family,  who  be- 
came a  lawyer  of  moderate  means,  he  represents  in  his  own 
person  the  convictions  and  interests  of  the  classes  which 
form  the  core  of  his  party.  A  man  of  strong  physique  and 
a  good  speaker,  he  can  wield  great  influence  in  public  ad- 
dresses. And  he  has  shown  the  same  capacity  for  organiza- 
tion which  forms  one  of  the  main  sources  of  strength  both  of 
the  American  political  boss  and  the  captain  of  industry. 

He  has  of  course  been  aided  by  many  other  men,  whom  it 
would  take  too  long  to  mention  by  name.  The  most  numer- 
ous group  are  the  clergy,  —  not  the  high  dignitaries  of  the 
church,  but  the  parish  priests,  of  the  same  peasant  and  middle- 
class  stock  as  those  whose  convictions  and  interests  were 
appealed  to  by  the  new  party.  With  these  and  others  the 
work  of  organization  was  carried  on  steadily  for  several 
years. 

In  1894  the  new  party  first  gained  control  of  the  Vienna 
municipal  council.  But  the  imperial  government  refused 
to  confirm  Lueger's  election  as  burgomaster;  and  when  the 
council  elected  him  a  second  time,  it  was  dissolved  and  a 
new  election  ordered.  In  the  new  council  Lueger  and  the 
Christian  Socialists  were  as  strong  as  ever,  and  a  compromise 
was  made.  The  former  first  vice-burgomaster  was  made 
burgomaster;  and  Lueger  was  elected  in  his  place,  with  the 
understanding  that  in  a  few  years  he  should  become  burgo- 


MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT   IN    VIENNA  323 

master.  In  1897  this  was  done;  and  since  then  he  has  re- 
mained in  full  control  of  the  city  government.  His  majority 
in  the  council  steadily  increased;  and  the  old  Liberal  party 
almost  disappeared.  In  1903  he  was  reelected  for  a  second 
term. 

At  the  last  election,  however  (in  May,  1906),  some  seats 
in  the  fourth  class  were  lost  to  the  Social-democrats.  And 
there  are  rumors  that  his  overwhelming  majority  is  in  some 
measure  due  to  manipulation  of  the  elections  by  some  of 
his  lieutenants  in  the  municipal  districts. 

Not  only  do  Lueger  and  his  party  control  the  municipal 
government,  they  also  have  a  large  majority  in  the  provin- 
cial diet  of  Lower  Austria.  This  has  prevented  the  provin- 
cial control  over  municipal  government  from  hindering  the 
execution  of  their  plans.  They  also  have  a  small  but  com- 
pact following  in  the  imperial  Reichsrath;  and  in  the  con- 
fused state  of  imperial  politics  this  has  induced  the  imperial 
government  not  to  oppose  them  too  strongly  in  their  man- 
agement of  municipal  affairs. 

MUNICIPAL  OWNERSHIP  IN  VIENNA 

Vienna  has  for  many  years  had  municipal  ownership  of 
those  undertakings  most  commonly  under  municipal  manage- 
ment in  German  cities.  Not  only  waterworks,  but  also 
slaughter-houses,  markets,  public  baths,  and  savings  banks 
have  been  owned  and  managed  by  the  city  government. 
But  until  the  Lueger  administration  the  gas  and  electric 
light  works  and  street  railways  were  under  the  management 
of  private  companies. 

During  the  past  eight  years,  however,  the  municipality 
has  entered  all  of  these  fields.  In  1899  municipal  gas-works 
were  established.  In  1902  a  municipal  electric  plant  was 
erected.  And  in  1903  the  street  railway  system  was  taken 
over  by  the  city. 

This  policy  of  municipal  ownership  does  not  seem  to  have 


324  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

formed  a  prominent  part  of  the  announced  programme  of 
the  Christian  SociaHsts.  And  it  has  been  put  into  effect  by 
the  municipal  council  without  much  popular  discussion.  It 
may,  however,  be  considered  an  application  of  the  general 
economic  policy  of  the  party  to  limit  the  power  of  large  capi- 
tahsts. 

Very  little  objection  to  the  municipal  ownership  policy 
is  expressed,  even  by  those  who  have  no  sympathy  with  the 
clerical  and  racial  sentiments  of  the  party  in  power.  There 
are  a  few  critics  on  broad  grounds  of  individualism,  and 
some  opponents  whose  private  interests  have  been  affected. 
But  municipal  functions  have  previously  had  so  broad  a 
scope  in  German  cities,  that  in  the  main  this  extension  seems 
at  least  to  meet  with  acquiescence. 

As  early  as  1873,  when  a  former  franchise  for  private  gas- 
works was  approaching  its  limit,  the  establishment  of  a 
municipal  plant  was  proposed.  But  a  new  franchise  was 
then  granted;  and  various  plans  to  purchase  the  existing 
works  have  led  to  no  definite  action.  But  in  1896  it  was 
definitely  decided  to  construct  a  new  municipal  plant;  and 
three  years  later  this  was  completed  and  began  operation. 
The  contracts  with  the  private  companies  have  not  as  yet 
expired ;  and  they  continue  to  supply  certain  districts  in  the 
city,  and  will  for  some  years  to  come. 

For  the  construction  of  the  plant  a  loan  of  $12,000,000  was 
made;  and  with  the  addition  of  a  water-gas  plant  three  years 
later,  the  works  are  now  valued  at  $13,000,000.  The  munic- 
ipal plant  furnishes  gas  to  the  central  districts  of  the  city, 
and  supplies  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  gas  now  used  in 
Vienna. 

When  the  municipal  plant  was  established,  the  price  of 
gas  was  slightly  reduced;  but  there  have  been  no  further 
reductions,  and  the  rates  for  private  use  are  approximately 
$1.10  per  thousand  feet  for  .light,  and  80  cents  per  thousand 
feet  for  heat  and  power.  In  judging  this  price,  the  low  cost 
of  labor  and  the  high  cost  of  coal  must  both  be  considered. 


MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT   IN   VIENNA  325 

Coal  is  brought  several  hundred  miles  from  Galicia  and 
Silesia,  and  with  the  high  rates  of  freight  costs  $4.50  per 
ton  at  the  works. 

Still  another  factor  is  the  illuminating  power.  Not  more 
than  twenty  per  cent  of  water-gas  is  used,  in  order  to  main- 
tain the  heating  and  lighting  power  of  the  gas.  In  America, 
where  water-gas  is  more  largely  used,  there  is  much  complaint 
of  the  decline  in  illuminating  power  along  with  recent  reduc- 
tions in  price. 

Gas  consumption  for  lighting  purposes  has  increased  but 
slightly  under  municipal  ownership.  But  the  amount  of 
gas  used  for  heat  and  power  has  more  than  quadrupled  since 
1900.  The  total  amount  of  gas  supplied  from  the  municipal 
plant  in  1905  was  400,000,000  cubic  feet. 

Financially,  the  works  are  very  profitable  to  the  city.  The 
income  from  private  consumers  and  from  the  sale  of  by- 
products is  more  than  sufficient  to  meet  all  expenses  of 
operation,  with  interest  and  sinking-fund  charges.  The 
city  gains  by  the  value  of  public  lighting,  estimated  at  $200,- 
000  a  year,  and  an  additional  surplus  of  $400,000  a  year. 
But  neither  in  the  price  to  consumers  nor  in  the  more  ex- 
tended use  of  gas  for  lighting  have  the  Vienna  works  brought 
about  the  social  advantages  to  the  community  sometimes 
urged  as  one  of  the  results  of  municipal  ownership. 

Construction  of  the  municipal  electric  plant  was  begun 
in  1900,  and  the  works  began  operation  in  1902.  The  plant 
consists  of  two  separate  works  on  the  same  tract  of  land, 
near  the  gas-works.  One  building  contains  the  power  plant 
for  the  street  railways;  the  other  is  for  lighting  and  for  power 
to  private  consumers.  But  current  may  be  transferred 
from  one  to  the  other  if  needed.  For  the  construction  works 
a  loan  of  $6,000,000  was  made  by  the  city. 

There  are  also  three  private  electric  companies  in  Vienna. 
And  while  the  municipal  plant  has  rapidly  extended  its  ser- 
vice, in  1905  it  furnished  only  about  one-third  of  the  electric 
current  sold  to  private  consumers.     Including  the  street  rail- 


326  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

way  service,  the  municipal  plant  furnishes  about  two-thirds 
of  the  electric  energy  in  Vienna. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  gas-works,  the  municipal  electric 
plant  is  operated  for  financial  profit  rather  than  to  extend 
the  use  of  electricity  by  low  rates.  On  the  face  of  the  reports 
a  large  profit  is  shown.  In  1905,  after  deducting  operating 
expenses,  interest,  and  depreciation  charges,  the  net  surplus 
was  $500,000,  —  more  than  8  per  cent  of  the  capital  invest- 
ment, and  30  per  cent  of  the  gross  income. 

But  the  income  is  in  large  part  an  estimated  revenue  from 
the  current  used  for  public  purposes.  Nearly  half  of  the 
total  income  is  for  power  furnished  to  the  street  railway 
service.  This  is  charged  at  the  rate  of  three  cents  a  kilowatt 
hour,  compared  to  seven  cents  as  the  average  rate  received 
from  private  consumers.  This  seems  to  be  about  cost;  and 
on  the  surface  does  not  seem  to  be  too  high  a  charge  for  the 
street  railway  current,  which  is  two-thirds  of  the  output  of 
the  whole  plant.  But  a  small  change  in  the  rate  charged 
against  the  street  railway  service  would  modify  so  much 
the  financial  results  of  the  electric  plant,  that  safe  conclusions 
can  hardly  be  drawn  from  the  published  reports. 

Of  more  importance  than  either  the  gas  or  electric  plants 
has  been  the  municipalization  of  the  street  railways  in 
Vienna.  It  is  the  largest  municipal  street  railway  system  in 
the  world,  and  one  of  the  most  recent.  And  on  both  accounts 
an  examination  of  the  Vienna  enterprise  should  be  of  value 
for  the  present  discussion  in  the  United  States. 

Before  the  city  government  took  up  this  work  there  were 
two  street  railway  companies,  operating  in  1899  seventy 
miles  of  line  and  carrying  85,000,000  passengers.  Only  a  few 
lines  had  been  electrified.  In  that  year  the  city  received 
the  necessary  authority  from  the  imperial  railroad  department 
to  construct  a  new  electrical  system,  including  the  rebuild- 
ing of  the  lines  of  the  larger  of  the  two  companies  and  a 
large  number  of  new  lines.  The  company  went  into  liquida- 
tion and  disposed  of  its  lines  and  rights  to  the  city. 


MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT   IN   VIENNA  327 

A  contract  for  the  new  construction  work  and  temporary 
operation  of  the  lines  was  made  with  the  Siemens  and  Halske 
Company.  In  1902  the  lines  of  the  smaller  company  were 
also  transferred  to  the  city.  And  on  July  1,  1903,  the  mu- 
nicipal government  took  over  from  the  contractor  the  opera- 
tion of  the  whole  system. 

For  the  purchase  of  the  old  lines  and  new  construction 
and  equipment,  the  city  issued  a  loan  of  $25,000,000.  The 
mileage  is  already  double  that  in  1899,  and  new  lines  are 
being  steadily  constructed.  No  cars  run  through  the  old 
inner  city,  where  the  streets  are  still  too  narrow  for  car  tracks. 
But  most  of  the  lines  run  at  least  to  the  Ring  Strasse,  and 
many  of  them  run  for  some  distance  on  the  Ring.  This 
facilitates  transfers  from  one  line  to  another;  so  that  one 
may  go  from  one  part  of  the  city  to  another  in  most  cases 
with  one  change  of  cars.  The  equipment  is  entirely  new, 
and  the  cars  are  larger  than  in  other  European  cities.  With 
the  wide  streets  a  more  rapid  service  is  furnished. 

The  schedule  of  fares  has  been  revised  and  somewhat 
reduced.  In  the  morning,  before  half-past  seven,  there  is  a 
uniform  rate  of  two  cents.  Later  in  the  day  the  lowest 
fare  is  two  and  a  half  cents;  for  longer  distances  it  is  four 
cents;  and  for  a  few  of  the  longest  journeys  six  cents  is 
charged.  On  Sundays  and  holidays  there  is  a  uniform  fare 
of  four  cents.  These  fares  include  transfers  from  one  line  to 
another  within  the  distance  limits.  The  average  fare  paid  is 
shghtly  under  three  cents. 

Since  municipal  management  there  has  been  a  rapid  in- 
crease of  traffic.  In  1905  the  total  number  of  passengers 
was  180,000,000,  more  than  double  that  in  1899.  There  is 
no  complaint  about  the  service,  and  a  general  opinion  that 
it  is  much  better  than  under  the  private  companies. 

At  the  same  time  it  should  be  noted  that  the  service  is 
not  so  extensive  in  proportion  to  population  as  in  the  large 
American  cities.  The  mileage  of  lines  is  less,  and  the  average 
distance  travelled  by  each  passenger  is  a  good  deal  less.    This 


328  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

must  be  taken  into  account  in  considering  the  lower  rates 
of  fare.  And  the  total  number  of  passengers  is  much  smaller 
in  proportion  to  population,  even  if  the  traffic  on  the  local 
elevated  and  underground  steam  lines  is  considered.  These 
facts  indicate  that  a  large  share  of  the  population  either 
live  near  their  work  or  walk  long  distances. 

In  fact  Vienna  is  a  city  of  tenement  houses,  which  enable 
a  large  population  to  live  in  a  comparatively  small  area. 
Yet  the  dwelling  conditions  seem  to  be  fairly  satisfactory. 
The  construction  of  such  buildings  is  strictly  regulated  so 
as  to  insure  plenty  of  light  and  air.  The  frequent  parks 
furnish  an  abundance  of  open  spaces.  And  there  is  appar- 
ently no  great  amount  of  crowding. 

On  the  financial  side,  municipal  operation  has  been  in 
force  too  brief  a  period  to  speak  with  assurance.  On  the 
face  of  the  reports  there  is  a  considerable  surplus  after  pay- 
ing operating  expenses  and  interest.  In  1904  this  amounted 
to  $660,000;  and  after  using  half  of  this  for  extensions  and 
certain  other  payments,  the  other  half  was  turned  into  the 
general  city  treasury. 

But  there  is  no  allowance  for  depreciation  or  a  sinking- 
fund  to  pay  off  the  cost  of  construction.  And  if  one  of  these 
were  included,  as  should  be  done,  the  whole  surplus  would 
easily  be  absorbed.  The  question  of  the  charge  for  the 
electric  current  must  also  be  considered.  But  it  at  least 
seems  clear  that  no  large  profits  are  being  earned  for  the 
city  from  the  street  railway  service,  as  from  the  gas  and  elec- 
tric plants. 

Much  might  also  be  written  about  other  municipal  enter- 
prises in  Vienna  under  the  present  regime.  In  June,  1906, 
there  was  opened  a  new  home  for  the  aged  poor,  con- 
sisting of  a  group  of  twenty  large  buildings,  erected  in  the 
outskirts  of  the  city  at  a  cost  of  $4,500,000.  Many  additional 
small  parks  have  been  added;  and  a  third  boulevard  around 
the  city  is  projected.  A  good  deal  of  asphalt  and  wooden- 
block  pavement  has  been  laid,  although  most  of  the  streets 


MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT   IN   VIENNA  329 

are  still  paved  with  rough  granite  blocks.  And  a  new  water- 
supply  is  under  construction,  bringing  water  from  the  Styrian 
Alps,  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  away.  But  these  and  other 
undertakings  must  be  passed  over  at  this  time. 

Some  notice  must,  however,  be  given  to  the  influence  of 
politics  on  the  municipal  administration.  It  is  here  that  the 
pronounced  anti-semitic  sentiments  of  the  party  in  power 
come  into  play.  The  rule  of  permanence  in  the  municipal 
service  has  been  too  firmly  established  in  Vienna,  as  in 
other  Germanic  cities,  to  permit  of  anything  like  a  whole- 
sale removal  of  officials  and  employees  for  racial  or  other 
political  reasons.  But  it  seems  clear  that  no  Jew  can  hope 
for  any  appointment  in  the  municipal  service  under  the 
Lueger  rule.  And  it  is  openly  asserted  that  in  the  exercise 
of  their  discretionary  powers,  the  officials  do  not  hesitate  to 
refuse  privileges  to  the  members  of  the  hated  race  which  are 
readily  granted  to  others. 

This  aspect  of  the  municipal  situation  in  Vienna  has  a 
special  significance  to  Americans.  It  means  that  the  mu- 
nicipal administration  in  general,  and  more  specifically  the 
experiment  in  municipal  ownership,  is  being  conducted  with 
something  like  the  dangers  of  political  influences  so  prev- 
alent in  American  city  government.  And  for  that  reason 
future  developments  in  Vienna  should  be  watched  with 
interest.  But  one  of  the  dangers  that  are  feared  in  America 
seems  as  yet  to  be  entirely  absent.  There  are  no  open  charges 
of  anything  like  corruption  in  the  municipal  government. 


XVIII 

MUNICIPAL  GOVERNMENT  IN  ITALY 

Italian  cities  offer  so  much  of  interest  to  the  traveller 
and  the  student  of  art  and  archaeology  in  their  ancient  and 
mediaeval  monuments  that  they  are  seldom  considered  with 
reference  to  their  modern  municipal  conditions.  Indeed  until 
after  the  establishment  of  the  present  kingdom  the  conditions 
of  Italian  city  hfe  were  so  unattractive  —  to  say  the  least  — 
as  to  offer  no  field  for  the  student  of  municipal  problems. 
And  it  is  also  true  that  none  of  the  Italian  cities  belong  to 
the  class  of  great  metropolitan  communities  of  more  than 
a  million  population,  where  municipal  affairs  are  of  the  great- 
est interest  and  importance. 

Nevertheless,  Italy  contains  half  a  dozen  large  cities,  in- 
creasing in  population  and  importance,  where  the  problems 
of  modem  municipal  life  have  to  be  faced.  In  recent  years 
most  of  these  cities  have  turned  with  more  or  less  vigor  to 
the  task  of  looking  after  the  needs  and  comfort  of  their  in- 
habitants. And  an  examination  of  their  achievements  is 
not  without  value  to  those  interested  in  American  municipal 
affairs. 

Before  looking  at  conditions  in  particular  cities,  it  will 
be  well  to  note  some  of  the  general  characteristics  of  city 
government  in  Italy.  All  of  the  cities,  and  also  the  country 
towns  or  communes,  are  governed  under  one  uniform  law, 
providing  a  simple  system  of  municipal  organization,  with 
a  large  degree  of  local  autonomy.  There  are,  however,  some 
important  limitations  on  municipal  activity,  notably  the 
police  system  of  the  national  government;  while  there  is 
also  a  considerable  amount  of  administrative  supervision 
over  the  municipal  authorities. 

330 


MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT   IN    ITALY  331 

Every  city  has  a  municipal  council  varying  in  the  number 
of  members  with  the  population  of  the  city.  The  larger 
cities  have  from  60  to  80  members.  These  are  elected  at 
large,  or  on  a  general  ticket ;  and  there  are  no  ward  aldermen, 
as  in  American  and  English  municipalities.  But  in  order 
to  prevent  one  party  from  electing  all  the  members  of  the 
council,  a  system  of  limited  voting  is  established.  Under 
this  system,  each  voter  may  vote  for  not  more  than  four- 
fifths  of  the  whole  number  of  councillors  to  be  elected;  and 
one-fifth  therefore  represent  the  minority.  Until  1906  coun- 
cilmen  were  elected  for  four  years,  one-half  of  the  whole 
number  every  second  year.  But  under  a  new  statute  one- 
third  of  the  members  will  be  elected  every  second  year  for 
a  term  of  six  years. 

The  council  votes  the  budget  and  acts  on  the  larger  ques- 
tions of  municipal  policy.  But  it  does  not,  as  a  whole,  attend 
to  the  details  of  administration.  For  the  latter  purpose 
there  are  elected  by  the  council,  from  its  own  members, 
a  syndic  —  corresponding  to  the  mayor  —  and  an  executive 
committee  known  collectively  as  the  giunta,  while  the  indi- 
vidual members  are  called  assessors.  Each  assessor  is 
assigned  to  one  branch  of  municipal  affairs;  while  acting 
together  as  the  giunta  they  pass  local  ordinances,  make 
appointments,  and  decide  on  the  more  important  questions 
of  current  administration. 

Neither  the  assessors  nor  the  other  members  of  the  council 
receive  any  salary.  There  are  also  salaried  technical  officers 
at  the  head  of  each  body  of  municipal  employees;  and  one 
of  the  most  important  offices  is  that  of  the  secretary-general, 
who  corresponds  somewhat  to  the  English  town  clerk. 
The  salaried  officials  and  employees  form  a  permanent  civil 
service,  as  a  general  rule;  but  there  have  been  exceptional 
cases  of  political  appointments  and  removals  in  Naples  and 
other  cities  of  southern  Italy. 

Municipal  functions  in  Italian  cities  include,  in  the  first 
place,  the  usual  public  works  for  the  care  of  the  streets  and 


332  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

drainage.  Usually  also  the  water-supply  is  municipal. 
There  are  also  municipal  markets,  cemeteries,  and  hospitals. 
A  number  of  cities  have  municipal  electric  light  plants.  A 
few,  including  the  important  city  of  Bologna,  have  municipal 
gas-plants.  Milan  owns  the  local  street  railway  system, 
but  has  leased  the  operation  to  a  private  company.  Some 
questions  as  to  the  power  of  cities  to  engage  in  such  under- 
takings led  to  the  passage  of  a  law  in  1904  distinctly  au- 
thorizing the  municipalization  of  public  utilities.  The  local 
management  of  schools  also  comes  under  the  municipal 
government;  but  here  there  is  a  high  degree  of  central  con- 
trol. Public  charities  are  under  the  control  of  special  com- 
missions, known  as  "congregations  of  charity,"  the  members 
of  which  are  often  chosen  by  the  municipal  council. 

The  police  system  in  Italy  is  peculiar,  and  at  first  seems 
rather  complicated.  In  the  large  cities  three  different  kinds 
of  policemen  are  in  evidence,  —  the  carbinieri,  the  guards 
of  public  security,  and  the  municipal  guards.  The  carbi- 
nieri correspond  to  the  French  gendarmerie.  They  are 
strictly  a  national  force,  under  the  control  of  the  minister 
of  war,  but  quite  distinct  from  the  regular  army.  Mounted 
carbinieri  police  the  country  districts.  In  the  cities,  the 
carbinieri  are  to  be  seen  guarding  public  buildings,  and  are 
also  on  duty  wherever  large  assemblies  of  people  are  gathered, 
as  during  processions  or  at  public  assemblies;  and  in  cases 
of  riot  they  are  used  somewhat  as  our  state  militia. 

The  guards  of  public  security  are  also  a  national  force, 
but  under  the  general  control  of  the  minister  of  the  interior, 
and  under  the  immediate  direction  of  the  prefect  in  each 
province.  They  look  after  the  more  serious  offences  against 
the  criminal  law,  including  a  large  amount  of  detective 
work.  In  many  small  cities,  where  there  are  no  municipal 
guards,  the  guards  of  public  security  also  perform  their 
functions. 

Municipal  guards  are,  however,  provided  by  the  municipal 
authorities  in  all  of  the  larger  cities.    Their  special  functions 


MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT   IN    ITALY  333 

are  to  enforce  the  municipal  ordinances  for  the  regulation 
of  street  traffic,  building  construction,  and  sanitation.  They 
have  also  the  power  of  arresting  violators  of  the  criminal 
law;  but  in  this  respect  they  simply  supplement  and  do  not 
replace  the  national  police. 

This  triple  system  seems  to  offer  opportunities  for  con- 
stant friction,  but  in  practice  apparently  works  without 
much  difficulty.  It  is  certainly  much  more  highly  central- 
ized than  in  most  American  cities;  and  the  important  police 
authority  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  local  government,  but 
is  the  prefect  of  the  province,  or  the  police  commissioner 
appointed  by  him. 

In  addition  to  the  police  powers  of  the  prefects,  the  local 
authorities  are  supervised  in  the  discharge  of  their  functions. 
Municipal  ordinances  must  be  approved  by  the  giunta  or 
executive  council  of  the  province,  which  is,  however,  elected 
in  the  province,  and  represents  provincial  rather  than  national 
supervision.  Legal  questions,  arising  in  contested  elections, 
tax  assessments,  etc.,  are  determined  in  the  first  instance  by 
provincial  administrative  courts,  but  appeals  may  be  taken 
to  the  central  administrative  court  for  the  kingdom.  And 
the  accounts  of  every  city  and  commune  must  be  examined 
and  approved  by  agents  of  the  national  government,  a  system 
which  secures  a  uniform  system  of  accounts,  and  keeps  the 
local  authorities  within  the  restrictions  established  by  law. 

NAPLES 

Naples,  the  first  city  in  Italy  to  be  visited  by  an  American 
going  to  Europe  by  the  southern  route,  may  in  some  respects 
be  compared  to  New  York.  It  is  the  largest  city  in  Italy, 
and  its  principal  seaport.  And  its  city  government  in  the 
past  has  been  as  notoriously  bad  as  that  of  the  worst  Tam- 
many administration.  As  in  New  York,  conditions  in  recent 
years  show  a  marked  improvement.  But  even  yet  there  is 
but  little  in  Naples  to  attract  favorable  notice,  and  much  less 
than  the  more  progressive  communities  further  to  the  north. 


334  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

What  first  attracts  attention  is  the  almost  complete  absence 
of  terminal  facilities  for  the  shipping  which  centres  here. 
A  harbor  has  been  constructed,  but  there  are  no  wharves  for 
the  larger  ships,  and  these  must  anchor  in  the  harbor,  and 
transfer  passengers  and  freight  by  small  boats  to  the  shore. 

Landed,  and  having  passed  the  dust  and  confusion  of  the 
custom-house,  the  visitor  next  becomes  aware  of  the  narrow, 
crooked,  ill-paved,  and  dirty  streets.  In  the  older  part  of 
Naples  most  of  the  public  ways  cannot  be  called  streets, 
but  are  simply  narrow  lanes  or  passages.  Most  of  them  have 
no  sidewalks,  and  many  are  not  wide  enough  for  wheeled 
vehicles.  In  the  hilly  districts  there  are  many  lanes  for  foot 
passengers  so  steep  that  the  road  is  a  series  of  steps,  on  which 
the  crowded  tenements  open.  The  more  important  streets  are 
often  less  than  forty  feet  in  width ;  and  even  in  the  new  resi- 
dence districts,  boulevards  are  seldom  over  fifty  feet  across. 
There  is  nothing  like  a  systematic  arrangement  of  the  streets, 
and  little  has  been  done  —  as  in  other  large  European  cities 
—  to  remedy  the  lack  of  main  thoroughfares  in  the  older 
sections  by  opening  new  streets  through  the  congested  dis- 
tricts. The  only  relief  is  that  afforded  by  the  frequent 
"squares"  or  piazzas,  where  several  streets  come  together. 

Street  pavements  are  still  laid  with  large  blocks  of  lava, 
about  two  feet  by  three.  Except  for  the  more  regular  shape 
of  the  blocks,  they  do  not  differ  from  the  pavements  in 
Pompeii,  laid  eighteen  centuries  ago.  At  best  they  make 
a  rough  road;  and  where  they  are  worn,  a  carriage  drive  is 
anything  but  a  pleasure.  Dust,  and  in  rainy  weather  mud, 
add  much  to  the  discomfort,  although  it  is  evident  that  there 
is  some  attempt  at  cleaning  the  streets  and  lanes. 

A  private  company  operates  electric  cars  through  most 
of  the  more  important  streets,  and  omnibus  lines  on  the 
others.  But  the  total  mileage  falls  far  short  of  that  in  an 
American  city  of  half  the  size.  The  service  is  rather  slow 
and  infrequent.  Open  cars  are  run  in  summer.  On  the 
principal  lines  there  are  cars  every  few  minutes,  but  on  some 


MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT   IN    ITALY  336 

routes  one  may  have  to  wait  ten  or  fifteen  minutes.  Fares 
are  graded  according  to  distance,  from  two  to  five  cents,  the 
ordinary  ride  costing  three  or  four  cents.  There  are  two 
classes  recognized,  first-class  passengers  having  cushioned 
seats  in  the  open  cars. 

But  the  local  transportation  problem  is  greatly  afjfected 
by  the  cab  service.  At  every  piazza  are  to  be  found  small 
cabriolets,  driven  by  the  little  Neapolitan  horses,  which 
carry  one  or  two  passengers  from  one  place  to  another  within 
the  city  for  the  sum  of  fourteen  cents  —  unless  the  driver 
can  make  a  better  bargain  with  the  unwary  American.  With 
thousands  of  these  cabriolets,  only  the  poorer  classes  use  the 
street  cars;  and  the  volume  of  traffic  is  much  less  than  that 
in  American  cities. 

In  other  respects  modern  municipal  improvements  have 
been  established  in  Naples,  but  generally  on  a  small  scale. 
The  Villa  Nazionale  is  a  charming  park,  of  moderate  dimen- 
sions, facing  on  the  bay.  Here  is  located  the  well-known 
Aquarium,  with  its  curious  and  interesting  specimens  of  marine 
life.  And  here  a  band  of  music  plays  every  evening  to  thou- 
sands of  Neapolitans.  Some  of  the  more  important  streets 
in  the  centre  of  the  city  are  lit  by  electricity.  And  an  ex- 
cellent water  supply  has  been  secured  from  the  distant  hills. 

Nevertheless,  some  conditions  of  life  for  the  great  mass  of 
the  people  seem  almost  intolerable  to  an  American.  In  the 
warm  southern  climate  it  takes  little  to  maintain  existence; 
and  the  population  grows  luxuriantly,  like  the  vegetation 
on  the  slopes  of  Vesuvius.  Huddled  together  in  crowded 
tenements,  most  of  the  people  spend  the  greater  part  of  their 
time  in  the  open  air.  The  streets  and  alleys  are  constantly 
thronged,  not  only  with  hucksters  and  lazy  beggars,  but  also 
with  women  and  children  attending  to  their  private  occupa- 
tions. While  through  it  all,  the  constant  clatter  of  the  cabs 
and  the  din  of  countless  noises  creates  a  confusion  that  is 
almost  unimaginable. 

The  seat  of  the  municipal  government  is  in  a  building  of 


336  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  facing  one  of  the 
largest  open  squares,  called  the  Piazza  di  Municipio.  The 
city  government,  as  already  noted,  has  been  at  times  con- 
trolled by  corrupt  and  dishonest  officials.  But,  aided  by 
the  active  supervision  of  the  central  government,  the 
present  situation  shows  a  good  deal  of  improvement,  and 
there  are  hopeful  signs  for  the  future. 

ROME 

Coming  to  Rome  from  Naples,  the  visitor  perceives  at  once 
a  great  improvement  in  municipal  conditions;  and  further 
examination  confirms  the  impression  that  in  Rome  municipal 
administration  has  reached  a  high  standard  of  excellence. 
As  in  most  European  cities,  the  railway  terminal  and  its 
immediate  surroundings  form  an  attractive  approach,  and 
in  that  respect  contrasts  very  favorably  with  the  railroad 
entrances  to  many  American  cities.  Moreover,  the  newer 
sections  of  Rome  are  well  laid  out,  with  broad  and  well-kept 
thoroughfares.  In  the  older  sections  near  the  river  will  be 
found  narrow  lanes  and  passages;  but  even  through  these 
there  have  been  opened  new  avenues  for  the  main  lines  of 
traffic.  And  everywhere  the  streets  and  alleys  are  sub- 
stantially paved,  and  the  pavements  are  clean  and  in  excel- 
lent repair. 

Most  of  the  streets  are  paved  with  stone  blocks  of  a  peculiar 
kind.  Each  block  is  about  five  inches  square  on  the  surface, 
and  about  eight  inches  deep,  and  is  slightly  wedge-shaped, 
so  that  the  bottom  is  somewhat  smaller  than  the  top  surface. 
Whether  the  odd  shape  of  the  blocks  or  the  good  quality  of 
the  work  of  laying  the  pavements  deserves  the  most  credit, 
the  pavement  is  certainly  more  satisfactory  than  other  stone 
block  pavements.  A  few  streets  in  Rome  are  paved  with 
wooden  blocks  laid  on  concrete,  and  these  offer  a  smoother 
but  less  durable  surface. 

In  some  of  the  street-improvement  work  that  has  been 
done  in  Rome,  the  city  has  been  aided  financially  by  the 


MUNICIPAL    GOVERNMENT   IN    ITALY  337 

national  government,  which  has  been  interested  in  making 
the  capital  an  attractive  centre.  This  aid  has  been  given 
mainly  in  opening  up  new  avenues  through  the  older,  crowded 
sections  of  the  city ;  and  a  new  work  of  this  kind  now  under 
way  is  the  enlargement  of  the  Venetian  Square.  Another 
important  improvement  completed  within  a  few  years  is  the 
Quirinal  Tunnel,  which  is  in  fact  a  broad  street  carried  under 
the  royal  palaces  and  gardens  on  Quirinal  Hill,  and  forming 
a  main  thoroughfare  from  the  northern  to  the  central  part  of 
the  city. 

The  street  railway  service  in  Rome  is  in  the  hands  of 
a  private  company,  and  is  distinctly  better  than  in  Naples. 
There  are  more  lines,  and  more  frequent  cars,  and  the  ser- 
vice is  quicker.  There  is  only  one  class  of  passengers.  Fares 
are  based  on  the  zone  system,  ranging  from  two  to  five  cents. 
But  there  are  no  open  cars  in  summer,  and  in  many  ways 
the  service  is  inferior  to  that  in  most  American  cities. 

Public  squares  or  piazzas  are  of  frequent  occurrence,  and 
form  centres  of  business  and  places  of  public  resort,  especially 
in  the  afternoon  and  evening.  But  Rome  is  very  inade- 
quately supplied  with  public  parks.  There  are  many  beauti- 
ful private  parks  within  the  palaces  of  the  older  Roman 
nobility,  and  also  the  royal  gardens ;  but  these  are  all  behind 
high  walls,  and  are  not  accessible  to  the  general  public,  and 
there  are  no  small  public  parks  within  the  city.  The  most 
important  park  open  to  the  public  is  the  Villa  Borghese,  just 
outside  the  city  walls.  This  is  a  large  wooded  estate,  and 
is  a  favorite  resort  for  the  modern  Romans.  But  there  are 
no  provisions  for  games,  and  few  accommodations  for  the 
people  who  come  there.  It  may  be  that  the  Italians  prefer 
the  life  of  the  piazzas  within  the  city,  but  to  an  outsider  it 
would  seem  that  more  of  the  open  country  would  be  better 
for  the  physical  life  of  the  people. 

In  its  architectural  monuments  and  its  collections  of  paint- 
ings and  sculpture,  Rome  is  one  of  the  greatest  centres  of 
the  world.    All  of  these  collections,  which  attract  the  attention 


338  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

of  the  visitors,  are  also  open  to  the  inhabitants  of  Rome  on 
payment  of  the  usual  fees.  And  in  this  respect  the  resident 
of  Rome  has  an  almost  unsurpassed  opportunity  for  educa- 
tion in  art  and  archaeology.  Most  of  the  collections,  how- 
ever, are  not  municipal,  but  are  owned  by  the  national 
government,  by  the  churches,  and  by  private  families. 

The  city  hall  of  Rome  occupies  a  most  interesting  historical 
position,  on  the  top  of  the  Capitoline  Hill,  the  site  of  the 
ancient  Capitol,  and  overlooking  the  excavated  ruins  of  the 
Roman  Forum.  The  foundation  walls  of  the  present  build- 
ing date  from  the  fifth  century  a.d.  ;  but  the  building  itself 
was  erected  in  the  later  Middle  Ages  and  is  of  no  special  im- 
portance, while  the  interior  is  dark  and  gloomy.  But  it 
speaks  well  for  the  city  government  that  it  has  devoted  its 
energies  to  the  physical  improvement  of  the  city  rather  than 
to  housing  itself  in  a  new  and  magnificent  building. 

There  is  little  of  special  interest  to  be  said  about  the  city 
officials  and  local  politics  of  Rome.  The  municipality  has 
the  same  autonopious  powers  as  other  Italian  cities,  and 
in  that  respect  is  in  a  somewhat  more  independent  position 
than  the  capitals  of  other  European  countries.  The  mystic 
letters  S.  P.  Q.  R.  still  appear  in  official  documents,  but  have 
no  special  significance,  as  the  legal  titles  for  the  local  officials 
are  those  established  by  the  modern  municipal  code.  It  is 
a  municipal  government  that  can  show  large,  substantial 
results  since  the  overthrow  of  the  temporal  power  of  the 
Pope;  but  these  have  been  secured  with  comparatively  little 
excitement,  and  local  politics  of  to-day  are  less  active  than 
in  some  of  the  other  Italian  cities. 


FLORENCE 

Probably  Florence  is  the  Italian  city  best  known  to  Ameri- 
cans, who  come  here  in  large  numbers  as  the  focus  of  modem 
art  and  literature  in  Italy.  In  many  respects  it  is  an  attractive 
city,  and  its  recent  municipal  history  offers  a  good  deal  of 


MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT   IN   ITALY  339 

interest.  But  from  this  point  of  view  it  is  comparatively 
of  less  importance  than  some  of  the  larger  cities. 

In  the  older  part  of  the  town  the  streets  are  narrow,  but 
more  regularly  laid  out  than  in  the  older  sections  of  other 
Italian  cities.  In  the  newer  districts  the  streets  are  wider, 
while  the  encircling  boulevard  which  follows  the  line  of  the 
old  ramparts  is  a  broad  avenue.  The  street  pavements  are 
much  better  than  in  Naples,  but  inferior  to  those  of  Rome. 
The  public  squares  and  public  parks  are  larger  and  more 
attractive  than  in  either  of  the  more  southern  cities.  The 
most  important  parks  are  the  Boboli  Gardens,  connected  with 
the  royal  palace,  and  the  Cascine,  to  the  west  of  the  city  along 
the  banks  of  the  Arno. 

These  physical  features  are  largely  the  result  of  important 
improvement  schemes  begun  in  the  late  sixties,  when  Florence 
was  the  capital  of  Italy.  But  the  transfer  of  the  capital  to 
Rome  after  1870  was  a  serious  financial  loss  to  Florence, 
and  the  cost  of  the  improvements  became  a  heavy  burden, 
which  led  to  a  crisis  in  municipal  finances  in  1879  and  1880. 
As  a  result,  while  the  city  has  the  improvements  begun  in  the 
earlier  period,  a  more  cautious  policy  has  had  to  be  followed 
in  recent  years. 

Florence  has  had  some  interesting  contests  with  private 
lighting  corporations.  About  1854  a  long-term  franchise  was 
granted  to  a  gas  company,  which  the  company  claimed  gave 
it  a  monopoly  of  both  public  and  private  lighting.  When 
it  was  proposed  to  introduce  electric  lighting,  the  gas  com- 
pany claimed  this  was  an  infringement  of  its  privileges;  but 
after  a  long  contest  in  the  courts  it  was  decided  that  the 
city  could  not  grant  a  monopoly  of  private  lighting.  Sub- 
sequently the  city  established  an  electric  light  plant,  in  con- 
nection with  the  waterworks,  for  public  lighting;  and  after 
another  legal  battle  their  power  to  do  this  was  sustained, 
and  has  been  more  clearly  confirmed  by  the  recent  law  on 
municipal  undertakings. 

There  are    a  number  of   electric  street  railway  lines  in 


340  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

Florence;  but  many  parts  of  the  city  are  not  covered,  and 
the  service  is  rather  slow.  Fares  are,  as  usual,  based  on  the 
zone  system,  and  range  from  two  to  five  cents.  The  owner- 
ship of  the  lines  has  recently  been  transferred  to  a  Belgian 
company,  which  promises  to  furnish  a  better  service.  Dur- 
ing 1906  new  franchises  have  been  granted  for  additional 
lines,  extending  the  rights  of  the  company  for  forty  years. 

The  municipal  government  of  Florence  is  controlled  by 
a  combination  of  Clericals  and  Moderates,  which  pursues 
a  conservative  policy.  Popular  interest  in  municipal 
elections  has  been  slight;  but  the  socialists  are  becoming 
more  active,  and  the  recent  local  campaigns  correspondingly 
more  vigorous. 

MILAN 

Municipal  government  in  Milan  is  by  far  more  interesting 
to  an  American  than  in  any  other  Italian  city.  It  is  the 
second  largest  city  in  Italy;  but  it  is  the  most  active  in  its 
private  business  enterprises,  and  in  some  respects  may  be 
compared  to  Chicago  on  a  smaller  scale.  In  municipal  affairs 
it  has  been  the  most  aggressive  in  extending  the  scope  of 
municipal  functions,  while  the  local  elections  have  been  the 
occasions  for  some  striking  political  combinations  and  heated 
campaigns. 

In  its  physical  appearance  Milan  shows  the  results  of  im- 
portant schemes  of  street  improvements.  The  large  square 
in  front  of  the  famous  cathedral  is  now  the  centre  of  the  city, 
and  from  this  the  important  streets  have  been  constructed 
on  the  radial  plan,  A  boulevard  has  taken  the  place  of  the 
old  fortifications  around  the  city.  But  in  the  heart  of  the 
city  there  are  still  many  narrow  streets  and  lanes. 

Street  paving  in  Milan  is,  however,  much  inferior  to  that  in 
Rome.  There  is  a  small  amount  of  asphalt.  But  most  of 
the  principal  streets  are  paved  with  larger  stone  blocks,  as 
in  Naples  and  Florence,  while  many  streets  are  still  paved 
with  cobblestones.  The  cobblestones  are  well  laid,  and 
by  constant  repair  these  pavements  are  kept  in  a  tolerable 


MUNICIPAL    GOVERNMENT   IN    ITALY  341 

condition.  All  of  the  streets,  too,  are  thoroughly  cleaned. 
But  as  a  whole,  the  pavements  are  not  what  might  be  ex- 
pected in  a  city  that  is  in  other  respects  the  most  advanced 
in  Italy. 

As  in  other  Italian  cities,  pubhc  parks  are  few  and  of  lim- 
ited dimensions.  Cathedral  Square,  unlike  other  piazzas,  is  a 
small  park.  The  Public  Gardens,  the  best  in  Italy,  form 
a  beautiful  park  well  within  the  city.  The  ground  for  a 
larger  park  has  been  reserved  for  some  time  near  the  old 
castle.  But  this  has  never  been  embellished  in  any  way; 
and  during  the  summer  of  1906  the  larger  part  of  this  area 
was  occupied  by  the  Exposition  then  being  held. 

Street  Railway  System 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  feature  in  the  municipal 
affairs  of  Milan  is  the  municipal  ownership  of  the  street  rail- 
way system,  and  the  contract  for  its  operation  by  a  private 
corporation.  Before  this  contract  the  operating  company 
paid  a  lump  sum  of  $200,000  to  the  city,  and  had  almost 
unlimited  control  of  the  service.  But  under  the  present 
contract,  which  went  into  force  in  1897  for  twenty  years,  not 
only  is  the  municipal  ownership  of  the  tracks  clearly  em- 
phasized, but  the  city  government  retains  a  large  measure  of 
continuous  control  over  the  service,  without,  however,  having 
the  direct  management  of  the  force  of  employees. 

The  municipality  provides  at  its  own  expense  the  tracks 
in  the  streets,  and  can  extend  these  at  its  own  pleasure; 
and  all  the  tracks  remain  the  exclusive  property  of  the  city. 
The  operating  company,  on  the  other  hand,  agrees  to  operate 
cars  by  electric  traction  over  all  the  lines  built  by  the  city; 
and  for  that  purpose  to  furnish  and  maintain  the  electrical 
plant  and  apparatus,  the  rolling  stock,  and  the  operating 
personnel.  Moreover,  the  plans  and  specifications  for  any 
construction  work  by  the  company  must  be  submitted  to 
and  approved  by  the  giunta,  or  executive  committee  of  the 
municipal  council. 


342  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

Service  must  be  furnished  by  the  company  for  eighteen 
hours  a  day  during  the  summer,  and  seventeen  hours  in  the 
winter.  The  municipality  may  regulate  the  number  of  cars 
on  each  line,  and  the  daily  mileage  of  each  car,  thus  con- 
trolling the  speed  of  the  traffic. 

Rates  of  fare  are  established  on  a  uniform  basis,  instead 
of  the  zone  system  usual  in  European  cities.  The  ordinary 
fare  is  ten  centesimi,  or  two  cents;  but  during  two  hours 
every  day  the  fare  is  only  five  centesimi,  or  one  cent. 

The  arrangements  for  payments  between  the  city  and 
company  involve  a  somewhat  complicated  calculation.  In 
the  first  place  the  municipality  contributes  a  certain  amount 
on  the  basis  of  car  mileage,  with  a  provision  authorizing 
a  reduction  in  the  rate  if  the  cost  of  operation  is  reduced. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  city  receives  forty  per  cent  of  the  in- 
come of  the  company,  after  deducting  the  above-mentioned 
compensation,  and  a  track  mileage  estimate.  It  is  not  easy  to 
determine  from  these  provisions  what  the  net  results  will  be  to 
the  city.  But  in  fact  the  payments  to  the  city  have  shown 
a  very  large  increase  over  those  under  the  previous  contract. 

There  are  also  provisions  regulating  the  relations  between 
the  company  and  its  employees.  No  man  may  work  more 
than  ten  hours  a  day,  in  periods  of  not  over  six  hours,  and 
each  man  is  to  have  four  days  of  rest  in  each  month.  Wages 
are  to  be  not  less  than  30  centesimi  (6  cents  an  hour)  or  three 
lire  (60  cents  a  day).  And  a  reserve  fund  for  insurance  and 
retiring  allowances  is  established  by  fixed  contributions  from 
the  company,  the  city,  and  the  employees. 

In  addition  to  the  conditions  specified  in  the  contract, 
the  company  must  obey  all  orders  and  regulations  estab- 
lished for  public  security  or  sanitation  by  the  municipal 
authorities,  or  imposed  by  the  prefect  or  higher  governmental 
officials.  The  city  also  has  the  right  to  run  cars  itself  for 
municipal  purposes,  such  as  street  watering,  and  may  grant 
rights  to  other  companies  to  operate  cars  by  other  than  elec- 
trical traction. 


MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT   IN   ITALY  343 

This  contract  has  now  been  in  operation  for  ten  years, 
and  under  it  Milan  has  by  far  the  best  street  railway  system 
in  Italy.  There  are  lines  to  all  parts  of  the  city,  the  cars 
are  neat  and  comfortable,  and  the  service  is  frequent  and 
rapid.  The  statistics  of  traffic  show  that  the  number  of 
passengers  has  doubled  since  1897,  and  was  over  100,000,000 
during  the  year  1906.  The  company  and  the  city  have 
worked  together  harmoniously,  partly,  perhaps,  because  the 
company  is  largely  made  up  of  local  capitalists  who  have 
close  personal  relations  with  the  city  officials. 

In  some  respects,  however,  the  service  is  not  so  good  as 
in  some  American  cities.  Nearly  all  the  lines  run  to  Cathe- 
dral Square.  This  arrangement  makes  transfers  from  one 
line  to  another  convenient;  but  as  no  transfer  checks  are 
given,  two  fares  must  be  paid,  and  there  is  practically  a  zone 
system  for  those  who  wish  to  cross  the  city.  More  objection- 
able is  the  congestion  of  cars  in  Cathedral  Square,  causing 
a  good  deal  of  confusion,  and  blocking  traffic  of  all  sorts.  It 
would  improve  the  situation  to  establish  a  series  of  through 
lines  running  from  one  side  of  the  city  across  the  square  to 
the  other. 

Working-class  Dwellings 

Another  problem  of  the  greatest  importance  in  Italy,  which 
the  Milan  city  government  has  more  recently  taken  up,  is 
that  of  improving  the  dwelling-house  conditions  of  the  work- 
ing-classes. The  growth  of  population  and  the  influx  of 
factory  hands  cause  an  increasing  demand  for  dwelling  accom- 
modations ;  and  with  the  crowded  conditions  that  prevail  in 
Milan,  as  in  other  Italian  cities,  the  municipal  authorities 
have  felt  that  they  must  take  action  to  relieve  the  situation. 

Already  houses  for  several  hundred  families  have  been 
built  in  the  outskirts,  and  more  houses  for  a  larger  number 
are  now  under  construction.  In  this  work  the  effort  has  not 
been,  as  in  England,  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  poorest  classes, 
but  to  build  model  houses  for  the  better  class  of  mechanics 


344  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

and  skilled  laborers.    And  the  financial  reports  show  that 
thus  far  this  work  has  been  self-sustaining. 

A  new  and  somewhat  different  project  has  just  recently 
been  undertaken.  The  city  has  purchased  a  tract  of  land 
beyond  the  built-up  district,  where  it  proposes  to  lay  out  and 
construct  streets  and  other  material  improvements,  including 
an  extension  of  the  street  railway  system.  Certain  tracts 
of  land  will  then  be  reserved  for  schoolhouses  and  other 
public  buildings  and  purposes,  and  the  remainder  will  then 
be  offered  for  sale.  The  whole  scheme  may  almost  be  called 
a  real  estate  speculation.  And  one  of  the  significant  steps 
leading  up  to  this  undertaking  was  the  submission  of  the 
proposition  to  a  referendum  vote  of  the  electors,  at  which 
it  was  adopted  by  a  large  majority. 

Municipal  Politics 

Municipal  elections  in  Milan  have  been  active  and  exciting, 
especially  during  the  past  few  years.  And  they  are  of  interest 
not  only  as  illustrations  of  political  methods  in  general,  but 
also  in  showing  how  far  the  new  municipal  enterprises  noted 
above  have  been  due  to  a  definite  political  propaganda. 

As  in  other  large  Italian  cities,  local  elections  have  generally 
been  contested  by  the  national  parties,  though  usually  on 
local  issues.  For  forty  years  before  1900  the  city  govern- 
ment of  Milan  was  controlled  by  a  rather  indefinite  union  of 
Moderates,  Conservatives,  and  Liberals.  In  opposition  were 
three  other  parties,  the  Clericals,  the  Radical-democrats, 
and  the  Socialists.  And  it  was  in  this  period  that  the  new 
contract  for  the  operation  of  the  street  railway  system  was 
adopted. 

In  1900  the  Socialists  and  Radical-democrats  united  for 
the  municipal  elections,  under  the  name  of  the  Union  of 
Popular  Parties;  and  this  fusion  was  successful  at  this  elec- 
tion and  also  two  years  later.  This  situation  led  to  another 
fusion  of  the  Moderates  and  Clericals,  under  the  name  of  the 
Electoral  Federation;  and  in  November,  1904,  after  the  strikes 


MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT   IN    ITALY  345 

of  the  previous  summer,  the  Federation  elected  its  candidates 
to  the  municipal  council.  This  result  was  accepted  by  the 
Socialist  and  Radical  members  of  the  council  whose  terms 
had  not  expired,  as  a  vote  of  lack  of  confidence;  and  they 
resigned  as  would  an  English  Cabinet  after  a  defeat  in  the 
House  of  Commons.  At  the  special  election  in  January, 
1905,  to  fill  the  vacancies,  the  Federation  was  again  success- 
ful ;  and  has  thus  now  complete  political  control  of  the  mu- 
nicipal government,  except  for  the  minority  representation 
on  the  council  secured  by  the  system  of  limited  voting. 

In  practice  there  seems  to  be  but  little  difference  in  the 
municipal  policies  of  these  two  local  parties,  for  the  com- 
binations are  only  made  for  local  elections.  Under  the 
Socialist-Radical  regime  the  scheme  for  working-house  dwell- 
ings was  begun.  But  this  has  been  continued  and  extended 
by  the  Federation,  and  is  now  an  estabhshed  policy  of  the 
city.  The  Federation  contains  more  of  the  wealthier  classes, 
while  the  Socialists  and  Radicals  appeal  to  the  middle  classes 
and  workingmen.  But  an  examination  of  the  candidates  for 
the  partial  renewal  of  the  municipal  council  in  July,  1906, 
showed  how  both  parties  appeal  to  all  classes  of  the  popula- 
tion. The  Federation  ticket  had  three  landed  proprietors 
out  of  twenty-two  candidates;  the  "Popular"  ticket  had 
two  of  the  same  class.  Each  ticket  had  four  "Professors" 
and  one  lawyer;  and  each  had  about  six  candidates  from 
the  industrial  classes.  The  Federation  ticket  had  two  mer- 
chants and  one  literary  man,  for  whom  there  seemed  to  be 
no  corresponding  candidates  on  the  opposing  ticket.  The 
local  campaign  is  very  brief  —  less  than  a  week ;  and  political 
meetings  are  held  largely  in  the  public  schools. 

It  seems  evident  that  the  election  of  councilmen  on  a  gen- 
eral ticket  tends  to  make  the  elections  party  contests,  and 
increases  the  influence  of  a  well-organized  party  machine. 
Few  of  the  voters  can  know  personally  the  qualifications  of 
all  the  twenty-two  candidates  for  whom  they  will  vote.  The 
Socialists  have  the  most  highly  developed  organization  and 


346  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

strictest  party  discipline,  and  would  probably  be  a  more 
powerful  influence  were  it  not  for  the  educational  and  tax- 
paying  qualifications  for  voting,  which  limit  the  number  of 
electors.  There  is,  however,  a  good  deal  of  scratching,  and 
many  mixed  ballots  are  voted. 

However  exciting  the  campaign,  there  are  none  of  the 
corrupting  influences  of  spoils  politics.  The  salaried  posts 
in  the  municipal  government  of  Milan,  as  of  most  Italian 
cities,  form  a  permanent  service,  recruited  very  largely  by 
competitive  examinations.  Neither  the  success  of  the  "Pop- 
ular Union"  in  1900,  nor  of  the  Federation  in  1904,  affected 
this  service  in  any  way.  And  charges  of  corruption  or  dis- 
honesty in  the  municipal  service  are  entirely  unknown. 

VENICE 

Physical  conditions  in  Venice  are  so  entirely  different  from 
those  in  other  cities  that  at  first  blush  it  seems  almost  impos- 
sible to  make  comparisons.  But  in  many  respects  the  mu- 
nicipal problems  are  much  the  same  as  elsewhere,  while  the 
strange  features  of  the  situation  increase  the  interest  in  the 
solution  of  certain  problems. 

Canals  in  Venice  take  the  place  of  both  streets  and  sewers, 
and  make  necessary  entirely  different  methods  of  local  trans- 
portation. The  Grand  Canal  forms  a  broad  thoroughfare. 
But  most  of  the  other  canals  are  narrow  and  irregularly  laid 
out,  and  any  reconstruction  of  these  ways  of  communication 
seems  out  of  the  question.  The  street-paving  problem  is 
greatly  simphfied,  as  the  lanes  for  foot  passengers  and  the 
piazzas  have  no  heavy  traffic  to  bear;  and  these  are  kept 
clean  and  in  good  condition. 

A  puzzling  situation  is  presented  by  the  use  of  canals  for 
sewers.  Conditions  would  be  intolerable  were  it  not  for  the 
tide,  which  rises  and  falls  about  three  feet,  and  sweeping  in 
and  out  acts  to  a  considerable  extent  as  an  automatic  flusher. 
In  the  larger  canals  this  serves  to  prevent  any  obvious  annoy- 
ance;  but  in  the  blind  ends  of  the  smaller  canals  there  are 


MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT   IN   ITALY  347 

distinctly  objectionable  odors.  As  the  water  is  salt,  and  so 
cannot  be  used  for  drinking,  its  contamination  causes  no 
special  danger  from  typhoid  fever.  But  in  other  respects 
the  situation  is  far  from  satisfactory. 

Gondolas  take  the  place  of  cabs  in  Venice.  They  are  a 
picturesque  but  not  a  rapid  means  of  transportation.  And 
while  they  will  probably  remain  for  purposes  of  recreation 
and  pleasure,  it  seems  probable  that  for  business  purposes 
they  must  before  long  give  way  to  motor  boats.  A  few  of 
these  latter  are  already  in  use. 

For  some  years  there  have  been  several  lines  of  small  steamers 
operated  on  the  Grand  Canal  and  between  the  islands,  as 
the  nearest  approach  to  a  street  railway  system.  Recently 
the  city  has  undertaken  the  operation  of  these  steamers, 
and  under  municipal  management  the  service  has  been 
improved  and  the  traffic  increased.  Fares  are  two  cents 
for  any  distance  on  the  Grand  Canal,  and  four  cents  across 
the  lagoon  to  the  ocean  beach  at  Lido.  Financially,  the 
municipal  system  has  met  expenses,  with  a  small  surplus 
for  depreciation.  But  the  service  is  still  limited;  and  the 
steamers  in  use  can  only  go  through  the  Grand  Canal.  An 
extension  of  the  service  by  the  use  of  small  motor  boats  in 
some  of  the  other  canals  is  needed  to  make  a  satisfactory 
cheap  means  of  transportation. 

The  municipality  also  owns  and  operates  the  water  supply, 
which  is  brought  from  the  mainland  and  piped  through  the 
city.  The  water  is  good,  and  there  is  no  complaint  of  the 
supply  or  the  rates.  Gas,  electric  lights,  and  telephones  are 
in  the  hands  of  private  companies.  There  has  been  much 
complaint  against  the  gas  company,  which  has  been  charging 
$1.85  per  thousand  cubic  feet.  In  1904  a  special  inquiry 
was  made  on  the  gas  question,  and  the  giunta  reported 
(March,  1905)  in  favor  of  a  municipal  plant.  But  in  June, 
1906,  a  new  franchise  was  granted  to  the  company,  fixing 
the  price  at  $1.10  per  thousand  cubic  feet  to  private  con- 
sumers, and  somewhat  lower  for  public  lighting.    This  is 


348  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

about  the  same  price  as  the  cost  of  gas  in  the  municipal  plant 
at  Bologna,  but  higher  than  in  the  municipal  plants  at  Padua 
and  Como,  and  also  higher  than  that  fixed  in  the  franchise 
granted  by  the  city  of  Rome  in  1898.  The  latter  provided 
for  a  rate  of  $1.10  per  thousand  cubic  feet,  with  gradual 
reductions  to  85  cents  in  1913.  The  difficulties  of  laying 
pipes  in  Venice  may  add  somewhat  to  the  cost  and  justify 
a  slightly  higher  rate  than  in  other  cities. 

Municipal  dwelling-houses  are  being  discussed  in  Venice. 
The  population  is  badly  crowded,  and  it  is  urged  that  the 
city  might  well  follow  the  example  of  Milan,  and  construct 
some  model  houses  on  an  unbuilt  section  of  the  island.  An- 
other project  that  is  being  mooted  is  the  enlargement  of  the 
terminal  facilities,  to  meet  the  needs  of  increasing  commerce, 
and  to  prevent  the  loss  of  trade  to  the  rival  Austrian  port 
of  Trieste.  But  no  definite  action  has  yet  been  taken  on 
either  matter. 

Local  politics  have  been  comparatively  quiet  in  Venice. 
The  city  government  is  controlled  by  the  moderates  or  con- 
servatives, and  the  present  mayor  has  held  office  for  ten 
years.  The  Socialists  are,  however,  becoming  more  active, 
and  there  are  several  smaller  and  less  important  factions. 

MUNICIPAL   GAS-WORKS 

None  of  the  Italian  cities  that  have  been  separately  dis- 
cussed in  this  article  have  municipal  gas-works.  But  the 
gas-plants  have  been  municipafized  in  a  number  of  other 
cities,  including  Bologna,  Leghorn,  Padua,  Spezzia,  and  Pisa, 
among  the  places  with  over  50,000  population.  The  munici- 
pal works  at  Spezzia  date  from  1877;  those  in  the  other 
cities  since  1894. 

None  of  these  works  represent  any  very  large  investment 
of  capital.  The  largest  is  Bologna,  where  the  total  invest- 
ment is  $1,300,000.  The  works  at  Padua  have  cost  $260,000, 
those  at  Como  $150,000,  and  the  others  smaller  amounts. 
All  of  the  plants  show  some  increase  in  the  consumption  of 


MUNICIPAL    GOVERNMENT   IN    ITALY  349 

gas  since  municipalization,  but  the  only  striking  cases  are 
at  Padua  and  Como,  where  the  consumption  has  more  than 
doubled  in  ten  years.  In  only  a  few  cases  has  it  been  possible 
to  learn  the  cost  of  gas  at  these  municipal  works.  In  Bologna, 
the  total  cost,  including  interest  and  sinking-fund  charges, 
is  $1.10  per  thousand  cubic  feet;  in  Como  it  is  80  cents  per 
thousand,  and  in  Padua  70  cents  per  thousand. 

These  results  cannot  be  said  to  give  a  very  decisive  answer 
as  to  the  success  or  failure  of  municipalization.  While  the 
cost  of  gas  is  comparatively  low  in  two  cities,  that  in  the 
larger  city  of  Bologna  is  no  less  than  the  price  made  by  a 
private  company  in  Venice,  and  is  higher  than  the  price  now 
charged  by  the  private  company  in  Rome.  And,  with  the 
exception  of  the  same  two  cities,  the  consumption  of  gas 
from  the  municipal  plants  in  Italy  is  so  small  that  the  cities 
cannot  be  said  to  be  furnishing  an  adequate  service  to  the 
community,  or  to  be  doing  much  better  than  private  com- 
panies in  other  cities.  On  the  other  hand,  the  municipal 
plants  can  hardly  be  called  failures.  Financially  they  are 
self-sustaining,  and  the  service  is  at  least  no  worse  than 
that  furnished  by  private  companies. 


XIX 

INSTRUCTION  IN  MUNICIPAL  GOVERNMENT » 

At  the  two  preceding  sessions  of  the  National  Municipal 
League  the  subject  of  instruction  in  municipal  government 
has  occupied  an  important  place  on  the  programme.  Papers 
were  read  at  each  of  these  meetings  showing  what  was  being 
dpne  in  the  colleges  and  universities  throughout  the  country, 
and  urging  the  importance  of  instruction  on  this  subject. 
Outlines  of  special  courses  in  municipal  government  and  lists 
of  text  and  reference  books  have  also  been  published  as  sug- 
gestions for  institutions  which  wished  to  add  this  subject 
to  their  curriculum.  But,  as  was  pointed  out  a  year  ago, 
attention  has  been  thus  far  confined  to  the  work  in  univer- 
sities and  colleges;  and,  indeed,  was  mainly  directed  toward 
advanced  courses  devoted  exclusively  to  municipal  govern- 
ment. At  the  last  meeting  of  the  League,  however,  it  was 
decided  to  extend  the  work  of  the  committee  having  the  matter 
in  charge  to  include  the  teaching  of  the  principles  of  good 
city  government  in  the  public  and  private  schools.  It  is 
with  the  subject  as  thus  enlarged  that  I  shall  deal  in  this 
paper. 

Most  of  my  time  and  attention  will  be  given  to  those  aspects 
of  the  subject  that  have  not  hitherto  been  discussed  at  these 
meetings  —  that  is,  to  the  more  elementary  instruction,  both 
in  schools  and  colleges.  But  I  shall  also  say  something  of  the 
more  advanced  and  specialized  work  in  the  universities;  and 
of  the  correlation  between  the  instruction  in  different  grades 
of  educational  institutions. 

*  Reprinted  from  the  Proceedings  of  the  Detroit  Conference  for  Good 
City  Government  and  the  Ninth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  National  Munici- 
pal League  (1903). 

360 


INSTRUCTION   IN   MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT  351 

Let  me  begin  by  making  clear  the  distinction  between 
the  advanced  special  courses  in  municipal  government  such 
as  have  been  heretofore  outlined  and  the  more  general  in- 
struction, of  which  I  shall  speak  in  detail  first.  The  special 
courses  in  municipal  government  are  nowhere  required  courses, 
but  everywhere  electives,  which  appeal  only  to  a  part  of  the 
students  in  colleges  and  universities,  —  principally  to  those 
who  specialize  in  political  subjects.  They  are  not  taken, 
and  it  is  not  expected  that  they  will  be  taken,  by  the  large 
proportion  of  college  students,  whose  main  interests  lie  in 
entirely  distinct  fields  of  study;  while  the  much  larger  body 
of  future  citizens  who  receive  no  college  education  —  even 
yet  more  than  thirty  times  as  numerous  as  those  who  do  — 
have  not  even  the  opportunity  to  benefit  by  such  courses  as 
have  been  described.  The  more  elementary  instruction,  now 
specifically  urged,  is  that  intended  for  both  of  these  classes 
of  students,  to  train  them  for  the  performance  of  their  duties 
as  citizens. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  to  take  much  time  to  show  that 
such  elementary  instruction  is  essential  for  the  success  and 
continued  progress  of  good  city  government.  Our  municipal 
governments  are  based  on  a  system  of  manhood  suffrage; 
and  good  municipal  government  depends  primarily  on  an 
intelligent  exercise  of  that  suffrage.  The  necessity  for  teach- 
ing future  voters  the  fundamental  principles  of  American 
government  is  very  generally  acknowledged,  even  where 
the  measures  taken  to  do  this  work  are  most  deficient.  It 
needs,  however,  to  be  more  clearly  recognized  than  is  now 
the  case  in  many  quarters,  that  the  training  of  the  future 
voters  in  our  cities  is  by  no  means  complete  with  a  study  of 
the  national  constitution,  or  even  of  the  national  and  state 
governments,  but  must  also  include  a  knowledge  of  that 
government  which  is  nearest  at  hand  and  most  largely  affects 
the  daily  lives  of  the  citizens,  —  the  government  of  the  city. 

Two  fundamental  rules  may  be  laid  down  for  this  elemen- 
tary instruction  in  municipal  government,  both  in  schools 


352  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

and  colleges.  First,  if  the  main  object  of  reaching  the  large 
body  of  future  voters  is  to  be  attained,  the  elementary  in- 
struction should  not  be  given  in  a  special  course  on  munici- 
pal government,  but  must  be  included  as  part  of  a  general 
course  in  government  or  politics,  which  every  student  should 
be  at  least  expected  to  take.  Secondly,  the  emphasis  in  this 
general  instruction  must  be  laid,  not  so  much  on  the  forms 
of  government,  as  on  the  functions  of  the  officials  and  on  the 
rights,  responsibilities,  and  duties  of  the  citizens. 

Of  the  specific  nature  of  instruction  in  the  elementary 
schools  I  shall  say  but  little,  as  a  lack  of  experience  in  this 
field  leaves  me  incompetent  to  present  details.  It  has  seemed 
to  me  doubtful  whether  systematic  courses  in  government 
can  be  taught  to  children  below  the  high-school  age,  in  a  way 
that  will  have  much  effect  by  the  time  the  children  reach  the 
age  to  exercise  poHtical  duties.  It  is,  however,  possible  to 
give  simple  explanations  of  the  duties  and  activities  of  those 
public  agents  somewhat  familiar  to  the  children,  such  as  the 
policemen,  school  teachers,  and  letter-carriers.  And  I  may 
refer  to  an  outline  for  work  of  this  kind  prepared  by  Mr. 
Harry  W.  Thurston,  of  the  Chicago  Normal  School. 

In  the  high  schools  and  academies,  however,  it  is  clearly 
both  possible  and  urgently  advisable  to  give  systematic 
instruction  in  civil  government,  including  definite  work  in 
municipal  government.  In  most  of  our  secondary  schools 
the  more  general  subject  has  already  established  itself;  but 
there  is  still  need  in  some  places  for  impressing  on  the  school 
authorities  the  importance  of  this  fundamental  work.  Even 
in  the  states  of  the  Middle  West,  nearly  one-sixth  of  the  public 
high  schools  give  no  work  in  civil  government ;  while  in  other 
parts  of  the  country  the  proportion  of  secondary  schools 
where  this  subject  is  wholly  neglected  is  much  larger,  — 
from  one-fourth  in  the  North  Atlantic  and  far  Western  states, 
to  one-half  in  the  South  Atlantic  group.  At  least  one  city 
of  nearly  100,000  population  gives  no  work  in  civil  govern- 
ment in  any  of  the  public  schools. 


INSTRUCTION   IN   MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT  353 

But  while  some  attention  is  given  to  the  general  subject  of 
government  in  most  high  schools,  this  seldom  includes  any- 
thing like  adequate  instruction  in  municipal  government. 
To  get  some  definite  information  as  to  what  is  now  being 
done,  I  sent  a  brief  series  of  inquiries  to  the  schools  in  fifty 
of  the  most  important  cities  in  the  United  States.  Answers 
have  been  received  from  thirty-three  of  these,  of  which  ten 
report  very  little  or  nothing  in  the  way  of  instruction  in 
municipal  government;  ten  report  somewhat  more  attention 
to  the  subject,  but  still  an  inadequate  treatment ;  and  thirteen 
—  about  one-third  of  the  cities  reporting,  and  only  one- 
fourth  of  the  number  of  inquiries  —  do  work  that  may  be 
considered  reasonably  good.  Judging  from  these  reports, 
the  best  work  is  that  done  in  Boston,  Cleveland,  and  Detroit. 
It  is  surprising,  however,  to  find  some  of  the  large  cities  in 
this  country  still  using  text-books  in  civil  government  which 
contain  little  or  nothing  more  than  an  analysis  of  the  national 
constitution.  One  city  of  more  than  100,000  population, 
four  hundred  miles  from  Ohio,  uses  a  text-book  with  the 
state  constitution  of  Ohio  instead  of  the  state  in  which  the 
city  is  located. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  there  is  an  obvious  need  for  impress- 
ing on  the  school  authorities  in  many  cities  the  importance 
of  this  subject  as  part  of  the  training  of  the  coming  voters 
in  their  duties  and  responsibilities;  while  the  character  of 
the  work  done  in  many  schools  where  something  is  attempted 
shows  the  need  for  discussing  the  methods  and  scope  of  in- 
struction, and  of  urging  a  larger  attention  to  this  subject 
than  it  now  receives. 

Some  explanation  of  the  backward  state  of  school  instruc- 
tion in  this  subject  may  be  found  in  the  slight  attention  that 
has  been  given  to  the  subject  of  civil  government  in  educa- 
tional circles.  That  subject  has  not  for  ten  years  had  a  place 
on  the  programme  of  the  National  Educational  Association. 
The  only  recent  discussions  of  the  subject  of  any  importance 
have  been  in  connection  with  plans  for  the  teaching  of  history 

2a 


354  ESSAYS   IN    MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

in  the  secondary  schools.  And  in  these  the  teaching  of  civil 
government  has  been  emphatically  subordinated  to  that  of 
history;  while  as  the  history  work  recommended  ignores 
the  study  of  recent  local  government,  the  influence  of  these 
plans  has  tended  rather  to  cause  the  subject  now  before  us 
to  be  neglected  than  to  secure  for  it  the  attention  which 
it  merits. 

The  specific  suggestions  for  high-school  work  in  municipal 
government  that  can  be  made  in  this  paper  are  necessarily 
brief.  A  preliminary  step  must  be  the  abandonment  of  the 
old-style  manual  on  the  national  constitution  as  a  sufficient 
basis  for  work  in  government,  and  the  introduction  of  a 
modern  text-book  dealing  also  with  state  and  local  govern- 
ment, and  the  machinery  and  influence  of  political  par- 
ties. Good  books  for  this  purpose  are:  James  and  San- 
ford,  Government  in  State  and  Nation;  Ashley,  The  American 
Federal  State;  and  Bryce,  The  American  Commonwealth, 
abridged  edition.  Still  better,  for  the  study  of  state  and 
local  government,  are  the  text-books  on  the  government  of 
particular  states  now  being  issued  by  different  publishers, 
which  usually  give  more  specific  information  about  municipal 
government  in  the  state  concerned  than  the  more  general 
works  can  do.^  But  the  most  effective  part  of  the  high- 
school  course  in  municipal  government  must  be  that  dealing 
with  the  government  of  the  city  in  which  the  school  is  located. 

The  time  that  can  ordinarily  be  given  to  this  topic  in  a  high- 
school  course  will  not  permit  of  a  study  of  municipal  govern- 
ment in  foreign  countries,  or  even  of  an  extended  comparison 
of  municipal  institutions  in  the  different  American  cities. 
But  the  pupils  can  be  taught  the  organization  and  activities 
of  their  own  city,  with  a  fair  degree  of  precision;  and  this 
should  be  the  primary  aim  of  the  high-school  instruction. 
No  doubt  this  imposes  a  more  serious  burden  on  the  teacher, 
requires  larger  training  and  ability,  and  calls  for  greater 

^  A  very  useful  book  for  the  study  of  municipal  government  in  schools 
is  Willard's  City  Government  for  Young  People. 


INSTRUCTION   IN   MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT  355 

tact  and  discretion  than  to  teach  the  vague  generahties  of 
a  text-book  in  use  all  over  the  country;  but  it  is  only  on  the 
basis  of  the  intensive  study  of  their  own  city  that  satisfactory 
work  can  be  accomplished.  An  aid  for  this  ^ork  exists  in 
many  cities  in  the  Municipal  Manual,  prepared  for  the  use 
of  the  city  officers,  copies  of  which  can  usually  be  secured 
for  the  schools.  In  a  few  cities  a  small  pamphlet  has  been 
published  on  the  city  government,  for  example,  in  Cam- 
bridge, Mass.,  and  this  example  might  be  followed  in  all  the 
cities  of  importance. 

Time  and  space  do  not  permit  of  further  suggestions  as  to 
methods  of  instruction,  which  would,  in  any  case,  require  an 
incursion  into  the  field  of  pedagogy,  and  may  be  left  for  dis- 
cussion by  those  who  have  had  special  experience  in  secondary 
education. 

In  our  colleges  and  universities,  too,  there  should  be  in- 
struction in  municipal  government,  given  as  part  of  a  general 
introductory  course  in  government,  intended  not  for  the 
specialized  work  of  advanced  students,  but  for  the  main  body 
of  undergraduates.  Some  of  the  largest  and  best  universities 
in  the  country,  which  offer  ample  work  in  municipal  govern- 
ment for  advanced  and  graduate  students  who  specialize 
in  history  and  political  science,  fail  to  offer  the  more  ele- 
mentary work  for  the  general  body  of  students.  The  uni- 
versities cannot  be  excused  from  this  work  on  the  ground 
that  it  belongs  to  the  secondary  schools.  For,  on  one  hand, 
as  has  been  noted,  most  of  our  high  schools  do  not  meet  this 
need,  even  as  far  as  they  might ;  and  this  lack  is  more  apt  to 
be  true  of  those  schools  whose  main  work  is  that  of  pre- 
paring students  for  college.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  every  college  graduate  should  be  enabled 
to  exercise  his  rights  of  citizenship  with  a  larger  knowledge 
and  broader  understanding  of  their  significance  than  can  be 
given  in  the  best  secondary  schools. 

That  part  of  the  general  college  course  on  government 
dealing  with  municipal  government  should  differ  materially 


356  ESSAYS    IN    MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

from  the  corresponding  part  of  the  high-school  course.  In- 
stead of  confining  attention  mainly  to  the  study  of  a  single 
city,  the  college  course  should  include  a  comparative  study 
of  typical  American  cities,  with  special  reference  to  those 
within  the  sphere  of  influence  of  the  institution.  Some 
reference  may  also  be  made  to  municipal  conditions  in  other 
countries;  but,  in  the  main,  that  aspect  of  the  subject  must 
be  left  to  the  more  advanced  and  specialized  courses.  The 
study  of  party  machinery  and  the  operation  of  extra  legal 
forces  can  be  more  exact  and  more  definite  in  the  college 
than  in  the  high-school  course.  And  the  more  mature  college 
students  can  be  taught  a  higher  standard  of  ethical  ideals 
in  politics  than  is  possible  with  those  of  a  younger  age. 

By  thus  emphasizing  the  importance  of  and  the  need  for  the 
more  elementary  and  more  general  instruction  in  municipal 
government  both  in  schools  and  colleges,  I  have  not  meant 
to  underrate  the  advanced  specialized  courses  established, 
especially  in  the  larger  universities.  In  view,  however,  of 
the  previous  discussion  on  this  phase  of  the  subject,  it  will 
not  be  necessary  to  present  here  any  definite  outline  or 
specific  suggestions  for  such  courses.  But  it  may  be  worth 
while  to  note  the  place  which  these  courses  should  occupy 
in  relation  to  the  more  elementary  work.  While  they  are 
not  courses  which  every  student  can  be  expected  to  take, 
the  number  of  students  to  whom  they  will  be  of  direct  benefit 
is  perhaps  larger  than  many  people  suppose. 

In  the  first  place,  such  special  courses  should  be  part  of 
the  training  of  those  who  expect  to  become  teachers  of  mu- 
nicipal government  as  part  of  general  courses  in  government 
either  in  secondary  schools  or  colleges.  It  is  perhaps  true 
that,  with  a  good  training  in  history  and  the  more  general 
aspects  of  pohtical  science,  an  exceptional  teacher  may  be 
able  in  time  to  develop  for  himself  satisfactory  methods  and 
plans  for  teaching  municipal  government,  as  has  already 
been  done  in  some  few  cases.  But  the  same  advantages 
which  result  from  specialized  training  in  other  branches  of 


INSTRUCTION   IN   MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT  357 

educational  work  are  to  be  secured  in  this  particular  field; 
and  efficient  and  effective  instruction  in  municipal  govern- 
ment cannot  be  expected  to  become  the  general  rule  in  our 
cities  until  the  teachers  are,  for  the  most  part,  those  who 
have  received  such  special  training. 

Another  important  class  of  students  to  whom  the  special 
university  courses  in  municipal  government  are  of  particular 
value  are  those  who  look  forward  to  journalism  as  their 
profession.  The  university-trained  journalist  is  almost 
certain  to  find  his  lifework  in  one  of  the  important  cities, 
where  a  large  share  of  the  subjects  which  will  occupy  his 
time  will  be  questions  of  municipal  government.  The 
journalist  who  has  given  some  time  to  a  study  of  these  ques- 
tions from  the  comprehensive  point  of  view  of  a  university 
course  will  be  best  prepared  to  discuss  the  problems  which 
arise  in  his  own  locality. 

And  in  the  third  place,  such  special  courses  in  municipal 
government  are  essential  for  all  of  those  who  do  not  expect 
their  political  activities  to  end  with  the  ordinary  duties  of 
citizens,  but  who  anticipate  a  larger  share  in  the  discussion 
and  settlement  of  public  questions  and  the  management  of 
political  affairs.  It  must  be  clearly  recognized  that  munici- 
pal government  in  our  large  cities,  like  the  government  at 
Washington,  will  not,  and  indeed  cannot,  be  intrusted  to 
citizens  who,  up  to  the  time  of  their  selection  as  officials, 
have  been  completely  engrossed  in  their  private  affairs; 
but  must  be  managed  by  men  who  spend  much  of  their  time 
studying  the  difficult  problems  to  be  solved.  Politics,  even 
under  the  best  conditions,  is  no  mere  sport  for  dilettante 
amateurs;  but  a  serious  business  where  professional  workers 
succeed,  and  must  succeed,  because  they  represent  the  same 
principle  of  specialization  of  functions  and  division  of  labor 
which  lies  at  the  base  of  all  developing  civilization.  And 
if  the  illiterate  and  dishonest  hucksters  who  too  often  perform 
this  function  in  municipal  affairs  are  to  be  driven  from  the 
field,  university  men  must  prepare  themselves  to  take  their 


358  ESSAYS   IN   MUNICIPAL   ADMINISTRATION 

places,  and  to  make  politics  as  honorable  a  profession  as  any 
other. 

Besides  the  university  courses  dealing  specifically  with 
municipal  government  as  a  whole,  it  may  be  worth  while  to 
call  attention  to  the  opportunities  which  our  larger  univer- 
sities offer  for  the  more  detailed  study  of  particular  branches 
of  municipal  administration.  These  are  even  now  being 
constantly  made  use  of  by  those  who  enter  into  the  various 
technical  municipal  services,  as  attorneys,  engineers,  sanitary 
officers,  school  officials,  and  the  like.  But  in  addition  to 
this  it  would  be  possible,  by  combining  the  distinctly  mu- 
nicipal subjects  in  different  departments  of  a  university,  to 
present  a  comprehensive  course  in  municipal  administration, 
which  would  be  the  best  prefiminary  training  for  some  of 
the  higher  posts  in  municipal  governments.  To  give  a  single 
example,  the  office  of  city  clerk  should  be  a  permanent  one, 
filled  by  a  man  who  —  without  having  the  technical  training 
of  the  experts  in  any  one  of  the  various  branches  of  administra- 
tion—  has  yet  had  a  large  amount  of  special  knowledge  of 
all  of  these  branches.  It  is  no  doubt  a  somewhat  fanciful 
suggestion  to  propose  anything  of  this  kind  in  view  of  present 
political  conditions  in  this  country;  and  I  am  very  far  from 
urging  any  student  to  carry  out  such  a  scheme  with  any 
hope  of  securing  a  suitable  position.  But  it  may  be  worth 
while,  at  least,  to  call  attention  to  the  possibilities  of  our 
present  educational  facifities,  if  political  conditions  ever 
become  such  as  to  utilize  these  advantages. 

In  conclusion,  I  have  attempted  to  suggest  in  this  paper 
a  correlated  scheme  of  instruction  in  municipal  government 
running  through  the  whole  educational  system,  which  may 
be  roughly  summarized  as  follows :  — 

1.  Simple  lessons  in  the  duties  of  public  agents  in  the 
elementary  schools. 

2.  The  systematic  study  of  one  city  in  high  schools  and 
academies. 

3.  A  comparative  study  of  American  municipal  govern- 


INSTRUCTION    IN   MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT  359 

ment  as  part  of  a  general  course  in  government  in  all  our 
colleges  and  universities. 

4.  A  comprehensive  study  of  municipal  government  for 
advanced  students  in  the  universities,  leading  to, 

5.  The  technical  courses  in  the  various  professional  de- 
partments of  the  universities. 


INDEX 


Accounting,  system  of,  in  New  York 
City,  185-186 ;  in  Philadelphia,  194 ; 
completeness  and  uniformity  in, 
demanded  under  public  ownership, 
268-269,  274,  285 ;  in  Italian  cities, 
333. 

Administrative  control  of  municipal 
officials,  33-37. 

Agamenticus,  a  colonial  borough, 
50  n.,  51 ;  aldermen  in,  70,  71. 

Akron,  O.,  statistics  of  council,  142. 

Albany,  N.Y.,  a  colonial  borough 
(1686),  50  n.,  60,  61,  63  ff.;  Don- 
gan's  charter  of  incorporation  for, 
54;  statistics  of  present  coimcil  of, 
141 ;  commissioner  of  public  works 
in,  169. 

Aldermen,  in  colonial  boroughs,  70- 
71,  76;  election  and  compensation 
of,  in  New  York  and  Boston,  132, 
133. 

Allegheny,  Pa.,  mode  of  election  to 
council,  129;  statistics  of  council, 
140 ;  director  of  public  works  in,  169. 

Allen  law,  in  Illinois,  238. 

Allentown,  Pa.,  council  of,  142. 

AlUnson,  cited,  55,  65,  68,  74,  76,  78, 
80,  81,  83,  84,  85,  87,  91. 

Altgeld,  Governor,  238. 

Altoona,  Pa.,  council  of,  142. 

Anderson,  Ind.,  119;  state-appointed 
poUce  board  in,  149. 

Annapolis,  a  colonial  borough  (1708), 
50  n.,  56,  62,  65  «. 

Ann  Arbor,  mmiicipal  expenses  of,  6. 

Annuaire  Statistique,  France,  277. 

Annuario  StaMstico  Itcdiano,  277. 

Aqueduct  board,  New  York  State,  166. 

Arizona,  rangers  in,  148. 

Arkansas,  regulation  of  water,  gas, 
and  electricity  rates  in  cities  of,  162. 

Arnold,  Bion  J.,  253,  260. 

Ashley,  W.  J.,  296 ;  American  Federal 
State  by,  as  a  text-book,  354. 

Asphalt  plant,  municipal,  in  Detroit, 
150. 

Assessing  officers,  administrative  su- 
pervision of,  35. 


Assessment,  rotation  in,  in  Toronto, 
204-205. 

Assessnients,  revenue  from  special,  in 
New  York  City,  187;  in  Philadel- 
phia, 192-193,  195;  in  St.  Louis, 
196,  199;  in  Boston,  202;  in 
Toronto,  206;  in  European  coun- 
tries, 216. 

"Assessments"  in  Scotland,  212. 

Atchison,  municipal  waterworks  au- 
thorized in,  155. 

Atkinson,  cited,  206. 

Atlanta,  bicameral  council  in,  126; 
statistics  of  council,  141 . 

Atlantic  City,  N.J.,  council  of,  143. 

Auburn,  N.Y.,  council  of,  143. 

Auditing  of  revenue  and  expense,  in 
New  York  aty,  185-186 ;  in  Phila- 
delphia, 194. 

Auditor,  office  of  municipal,  in  Ohio, 
105. 

Augxista,  Ga.,  covmcil  of,  142. 

Austria,  municipal  conditions  in,  316- 
317. 


Baltimore,  incorporated  as  a  city 
(1787),  59;  bicameral  council  in, 
126 ;  mode  of  election  to  council  in, 
129;  pay  of  members  of  council, 
133 ;  statistics  of  covmcil,  140 ;  state- 
appointed  police  board  in,  148;  re- 
construction of,  after  fire  of  1904, 
151 ;  administration  of  public  works 
in,  168. 

Bank  deposits,  public,  in  New  York, 
187. 

Bank  shares,  taxation  of,  in  New 
York,  186. 

Bath,  N.C.,  a  colonial  borough,  60  n., 
56. 

Baths,  superintendent  of,  in  borough 
of  Manhattan,  165;  public,  in 
Scotland,  288;  in  Mimich,  312;  in 
Budapest,  314 ;  in  Vienna,  323. 

Bay  City,  Mich.,  statistics  of  council, 
143. 

Bayonne,  N.J.,  statistics  of  council, 
142. 


361 


362 


INDEX 


Bellmen  in  colonial  boroughs,  87. 

Berlin,  Germany,  tabular  statement 
of  finances  of,  175-179;  revenue 
system  of,  210,  214-215,  216  ff. ; 
municipal  ownership  in,  216 ;  local 
transportation  in,  303-308. 

Berlin,  N.H.,  state-appointed  police 
board  in,  149. 

Bermuda  Hundred,  Va.,  a  colonial 
borough,  50. 

Bilanci  Comunali,  Italy,  277. 

Binghamton,  N.Y.,  statistics  of  coun- 
cil, 142. 

Birmingham,  Ala.,  term  of  service  in 
council  in,  128;  appointing  power 
of  council  in,  138 ;  statistics  of 
council,  142;  state-appointed  police 
board,  148. 

Birmingham,  Eng.,  municipal  enter- 
prises in,  292-296. 

Bishop,  C.  F.,  cited,  64,  66. 

Black,  cited,  89. 

Blair  v.  Chicago,  case  of,  cited,  233, 
252. 

Boards  of  health.     See  Health. 

Bolting  Act,  in  New  York,  61. 

Borough,  the  English,  48-50. 

Boroughs,  colonial,  in  America,  50  ff. ; 
charters  for,  52  ff. ;  opposition  to 
system  of,  58;  so-called  cities  the 
same  institution  as,  58;  signifi- 
cance of  location  of,  58-59;  status 
of  citizens  in,  60-62;  the  suffrage 
in,  62-67;  organization  of,  67-75; 
mayor,  68-69,  76;  recorder,  69-70, 
76;  aldermen,  70-71,  76;  council- 
men,  71-72;  other  charter  officials, 
72-73  ;  wards  in,  74 ;  town  meetings 
in,  74-75 ;  judicial  functions  in, 
75-77;  legislative  functions,  77-79; 
markets  and  fairs  in,  79-80;  ferries 
in,  81-82;  docks  and  wharves  in, 
82;  streets  and  roads  in,  82-84; 
water  supply,  84—85;  fire-engines 
in,  85-86 ;  police  in,  86-88 ;  finances 
of,  88-94. 

Boston,  mayor's  power  of  nomination 
in,  22 ;  competitive  examinations 
for  filling  municipal  positions  in,  26 ; 
receives  a  city  charter  (1822),  59  n. ; 
bicameral  council  in,  126 ;  number 
of  members  of  council  in,  127  ;  mode 
of  election  to  council  in,  129 ;  mi- 
nority-representation voting  scheme 
in,  132;  pay  of  members  of  board 
of  aldermen,  133;  pay  of  members 
of  common  council,  134;  statistics 
of  council,  140;  state-appointed 
police  board  in,   148;    single  police 


commissioner  and  excise  board  in 
(1906),  149;  subways  in,  154-155; 
regulation  of  price  of  gas  in,  161- 
162 ;  administration  of  public  works 
in,  167-168;  tabular  statement  of 
finances  of,  174-180;  revenue  sys- 
tem of,  200-203;  instruction  in 
municipal  government  in,  353. 

Bridgeport,  Conn.,  statistics  of  coun- 
cil, 141. 

Bristol,  Pa.,  a  colonial  borough,  50  n. ; 
charter  of,  55. 

Brockton,  Mass.,  statistics  of  council, 
142. 

Brooks,  R.  C,  cited,  207. 

Bryce,  James,  on  American  municipal 
government,  5 ;  mistake  of,  concern- 
ing bicameral  councils,  126  n. ; 
American  Commonwealth  as  a  text- 
book, 354. 

Budapest,  municipal  conditions  in, 
312-315;  comparison  between  St. 
Louis  and,  313. 

Buffalo,  bicameral  council  in,  126; 
term  of  service  in  council,  127 ;  mode 
of  election  to  council,  129;  pay  of 
members  of  council,  133;  statistics 
of  covmcil,  140;  administration  of 
public  works  in,  170;  electric 
lighting  figures  in,  compared  with 
Detroit,  227. 

Burgesses,  House  of,  Virginia,  51,  65. 

Burgomaster,  position  of,  in  Vienna, 
319;   Karl  Lueger  as,  321-323. 

Burial-grounds,  public,  in  Scotland, 
288. 

Burlington,  N.J.,  a  colonial  borough, 
50  n.,  57,  65  ff. 

Bushnell,  Governor,  of  Ohio,  115. 

Business  assessment,  Toronto,  204. 

Busse,  Mayor  F.  A.,  257. 

Butte,  Mont.,  statistics  of  council,  143. 


Cable  traction,  establishment  of,  in 
Chicago,  236. 

Cab  traffic,  in  London,  296-297;  in 
Berlin,  307. 

Cabs  (cabriolets),  in  Naples,  335. 

California,  home-rule  charters  in,  31 ; 
municipal  ownership  in,  156;  fran- 
chise law  (1901),  158. 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  independent  politi- 
cal organization  in,  8;  statistics 
of  council,  141 ;  administration  of 
pubhc  works  in,  171 ;  pamphlet  on 
the  city  government  published  in, 
355. 


INDEX 


363 


Camden,  N.J.,  statistics  of  council, 
141. 

Canton,  O.,  statistics  of  council,  143. 

Cedar  Rapids,  la.,  statistics  of  council, 
143. 

Censiis  statistics  in  United  States, 
282-285. 

Chamberlain,  office  of,  in  colonial 
boroughs,  72-73. 

Chamberlain,  Joseph,  292. 

Charitable  institutions,  4. 

Charity  and  correction,  state  boards 
of,  35. 

Charleston,  incorporated  as  city  (1783), 
59  ;  term  of  service  in  council,  128 ; 
statistics  of  council,  141. 

Charters,  city,  28;  home-rule,  31-32; 
New  York's  as  colonial  borough 
or  corporation,  52-54;  of  Albany, 
Philadelphia,  and  other  boroughs, 
54-58;  of  Charleston,  Baltimore, 
Boston,  and  other  cities,  59-60; 
stream  of  municipal,  after  Revo- 
lution, 59-60. 

Chattanooga,  bicameral  council  in, 
126 ;  statistics  of  council,  142. 

Chelsea,  Mass.,  statistics  of  council, 
142. 

Chester,  Pa.,  a  colonial  borough,  50; 
charter  of,  56;  statistics  of  council, 
142. 

Chicago,  Municipal  Voters'  League  in, 
9,  238,  239,  249;  council's  power 
to  estabhsh  offices  in,  18;  adminis- 
trative powers  of  council  in,  18 ; 
position  of  mayor  in,  21 ;  mayor's 
power  of  nomination,  22 ;  com- 
petitive examinations  in,  26;  term 
of  office  of  mayor  of,  112  n. ;  office 
of  corporation  counsel  in,  113;  dis- 
advantages to,  from  limitation  on 
financial  powers  and  multiphcation 
of  authorities,  114;  failure  to  carry 
proposed  new  charter  for,  114  n. ; 
single-chamber  council  in,  126; 
niunber  of  members  of  council  in, 
127 ;  statistics  of  coxmcil,  128,  129, 
133,  140;  election  of  sanitary 
trustees  in,  132;  mayor's  nomina- 
tions to  offices  in,  confirmed  by 
coimcil,  138;  ordinances  of,  139; 
Drainage  Canal,  152;  legislative 
acts  regarding  parks  for,  152;  mu- 
nicipal street  railway  question  in, 
157,  162,  230-259;  administration 
of  public  works  in,  166;  tabular 
statement  of  finances  of,  174-180 ; 
revenues  of,  compared  with  other 
cities,    180-181;     expenditures    of. 


compared  with  European  cities, 
217-218 ;  comparison  between  street 
railway  equipment  of  Munich  and, 
312;  comparison  between  Milan 
and,  340. 

Chicago  City  Railway  Company,  232, 
233,  247,  253,  258. 

Chicago  Passenger  Railway  Company, 
236. 

Chicago  Railways  Company,  255. 

Chicago  Union  Traction  Company,  239, 
246,  253. 

Chicago  West  Division  Railway  Com- 
pany, 232,  237. 

Christian  Socialists,  Vienna,  321-323. 

Cincinnati,  single-chamber  council  in, 
126;  service  in  council,  mode  of 
election,  and  other  statistics,  128, 
129,  140;  control  of  police  in,  149; 
water-supply  system  for,  153;  ad- 
ministration of  public  works  in,  169. 

Cities,  in  ancient  times,  1 ;  decline  of, 
with  decline  of  Roman  Empire,  1 ; 
growth  of,  in  number  and  size  in 
18th  century,  1-2;  increase  of,  in 
19th  century,  2 ;  increasing  im- 
portance of  government  of,  2-3; 
duties  and  activities  of  government 
of,  3—5 ;  exp>enditvu-es  on  mxuiicipal 
institutions  in,  5 ;  official  corruption 
in,  6;  defects  in  government  of, 
6-7 ;  causes  and  remedies  of,  7-10 ; 
relation  between  state  and,  26-38; 
classification  of,  29,  111,  114,  119- 
120;  attempts  to  prohibit  special 
legislation  for,  29-32,  111,  114-115; 
charters  of,  31 ;  origins  of  American, 
in  chartered  boroughs  or  municipal 
corporations,  48  {see  Boroughs) ; 
government  in  Italian,  330-333; 
instruction  in  govermnent  of,  350- 
359. 

Citizens,  status  of,  in  colonial  bor- 
oughs, 60-67. 

Citizens'  Association,  Chicago,  235. 

City  attorneys  in  Illinois,  113. 

City  clerk,  appointment  to  office  of, 
137-138;  in  Italian  cities  called 
secretary-general,  331. 

City  clerks  in  Illinois,  113. 

City  engineer  in  New  York  cities,  169. 

City  treasiu-ers  in  Illinois,  113. 

Civic  Federation,  Chicago,  240. 

Civil  service  in  Milan,  346. 

Civil  service  rules  in  cities,  26,  39-47. 

Classification  of  cities,  29,  111;  in 
Ohio,  114;    in  Indiana,  119-120. 

Cleveland,  mayor's  power  of  nomina- 
tion in   (1891-1903),   22;    so-called 


364 


INDEX 


"federal  plan"  of,  mentioned,  25; 
legislative  acts  of  1902  afifecting, 
99-101 ;  single-chamber  council  in, 
126;  service  in  council  in,  128; 
mode  of  election  to  council  in,  129 ; 
mayor's  nominations  to  oflScea  in, 
confirmed  by  council,  138 ;  statistics 
of  council,  140;  instruction  in  mu- 
nicipal government  in,  353. 

Colorado,  home-rule  charters  in,  31 ; 
granting  of  franchises  in  (1905),  161. 

Columbus,  O.,  statistics  of  council,  140. 

Commerce  and  Labor,  Department  of, 
283-284. 

Committees  of  municipal  councils, 
135-136. 

Como,  mimicipal  gas-works  in,  349. 

Comf>ensation.     See  Pay. 

Comptroller,  office  of,  in  New  York 
City,  183-184. 

Connecticut,  early  incorporation  of 
cities  in,  59;  state  police  in,  147- 
148. 

Cooley,  Mortimer  E.,  253. 

Corporation  counsels  in  Illinois  cities, 
113. 

Corporation  taxes,  Pennsylvania,  194- 
195. 

Corporations,  municipal,  in  colonial 
America,  48  S. 

Corruption,  official,  6;  apparent  free- 
dom from,  in  Vienna,  329 ;  unknown 
in  Milan,  346. 

Council  Bluffs,  la.,  statistics  of 
council,  143. 

Councilmen  in  colonial  boroughs,  71- 
72. 

Councils,  municipal,  12;  composition 
of,  election  to,  and  compensation 
of  members,  13;  criticism  of  these 
elements  of  organization,  14;  plan 
of  National  Municipal  League,  14— 
15 ;  scope  and  methods  of  action  of, 
16  ff. ;  legislative  and  administra- 
tive powers  of,  17-20;  in  colonial 
boroughs,  71-72 ;  office  of  president 
of,  in  Ohio,  105;  under  new  mu- 
nicipal code  in  Ohio,  105,  107,  115- 
116,  117;  of  Illinois  cities,  112;  in 
Indiana  cities,  120;  number  of 
chambers  of,  126 ;  number  of  mem- 
bers of,  126-127;  term  of  service 
in,  127-128;  mode  of  election  to, 
129—131 ;  minority  representation 
in,  131-133 ;  compensation  of  mem- 
bers of,  133-134;  business  standing 
and  character  of  members,  134-135 ; 
times  of  meeting,  and  presiding 
officers,    135;    committees  of,   135- 


136;  control  over  administrative 
officers  by,  136-139;  power  of 
enacting  ordinances,  139-140;  sta- 
tistics of,  of  American  cities,  140- 
141 ;   in  Itahan  cities,  331. 

County  Coimcil,  London,  207-208; 
tramways  owned  and  operated  by, 
298. 

Courts,  control  of  municipal  officials 
by,  32-33;  in  colonial  boroughs, 
76-77. 

Covington,  Ky.,  statistics  of  council, 
142. 

Cumulative  voting,  133. 

D 

Dallas,  Texas,  members-at-large  of 
council  of,  131 ;  statistics  of  council, 
142. 

Dalrjonple,  manager  municipal  tram- 
ways, Glasgow,  249  n. 

Darrow,  Clarence  S.,  252;  article  by, 
cited,  261. 

Davenport,  la.,  council  of,  142. 

Dayton,  O.,  council  of,  141. 

Debt,  of  New  York  City,  188;  of 
Philadelphia,  194;  Boston,  201- 
202 ;  Toronto,  206. 

Debt  limit  in  Indiana  cities,  123. 

Debt  Umits,  272-273. 

Debts  and  assets  of  five  American 
and  five  European  cities,  179. 

Denver,  home-rule  charter  of,  32 ; 
pay  of  members  of  council,  133 ; 
statistics  of  council,  140;  control 
of  police  in,  149. 

Des  Moines,  la.,  statistics  of  council, 
141. 

Detroit,  publicity  secured  to  legislative 
bills  affecting,  30 ;  single-chamber 
council  in,  126 ;  membership  of 
council  in,  128 ;  mode  of  election  to 
covmcil  in,  129 ;  pay  of  members 
of  council,  133 ;  list  of  council 
committees,  136  n. ;  statistics  of 
council,  140 ;  municipal  asphalt 
plant  in,  150;  administration  of 
public  works  in,  171 ;  municipal 
electric  lighting  in,  219-229,  271; 
instruction  in  municipal  govern- 
ment in,  353. 

Dillon,  Judge,  cited,  27;  quoted,  136- 
137. 

Docks,  in  colonial  boroughs,  82 ;  super- 
vision of,  in  New  York  City,  165, 
166;  revenue  from,  in  New  York 
City,  187;  miuiicipal,  in  Scotland, 
287. 


INDEX 


365 


Drainage  Canal,  Chicago,  152. 

Drainage  systems,  4. 

Dubuque,  la.,  statistics  of  coiincil,  142. 

Duluth,  Minn.,  statistics  of  council, 
141. 

Dunne,  Mayor  E.  F.,  248-249,  252, 
256,  257 ;   cited,  260. 

Du  Pont,  A.  B.,  253. 

Durand,  E.  D.,  cited,  90,  189. 

Dwellings,  public  working-class,  in 
Scotland,  288;  working-class,  in 
Birmingham,  England,  294-296 ; 
in  Vienna,  328;  working-class,  in 
Milan,  343—344 ;  discussion  of  sub- 
ject of  municipal,  in  Venice,  348. 


E 


Easton,  Pa.,  council  of,  143. 

East  River  Bridge  commission,  165. 

East  St.  Louis,  council  of,  143. 

Education,  boards  of,  in  Cook  County, 
111.,  113. 

Election  to  coimcils,  129-131. 

Elections,  date  of,  in  Ohio,  118;  in 
Indiana,  119. 

Electric  lighting,  municipal  control  of 
rates,  161-162;  municipal,  in  De- 
troit, 219-229. 

Electric  lighting  plants,  municipal,  4, 
107,  153-154,  219-229;  under  new 
Ohio  code,  155. 

Electric  light  systems,  franchises  for, 
159-163. 

Electric  railways,  underground,  in 
London,  299. 

Electricity  works,  municipal,  in  Scot- 
land, 287 ;  municipal  and  company, 
in  London,  300-302;  in  Leipzig, 
309;  in  Munich,  311;  municipal, 
in  Vienna,  323,  325-326. 

Elizabeth,  N.J.,  a  colonial  borough, 
50  n.,  60,  61,  65  ff. ;  charter  of,  57; 
statistics  of  council,  141. 

Elkhart,  Ind.,  state-appointed  police 
board  in,  149. 

Ellis,  Wade  H.,  cited,  115. 

Elmira,  N.Y.,  council  of,  142. 

Emery,  G.  A.,  cited,  51. 

Employment  offices,  New  York  City, 
184. 

England,  municipal  statistics  in,  275- 
277 ;  mvmicipal  activities  in,  292- 
302.     See  London. 

Erie,  Pa.,  statistics  of  council,  141. 

Estimate,  boards  of,  in  five  New 
York  cities,  126. 

Evansville,    Ind.,    119;    term   of  ser- 


vice in  council,  128;  statistics  of 
council,  141. 

Examinations,  competitive,  for  filling 
municipal  positions,  26. 

Expenditures,  comparison  of  Ameri- 
can and  European  municipal,  176- 
179,  217-218. 


Factory  inspection,  147. 

Fairs  in  colonial  boroughs,  79-80. 

Fall  River,  statistics  of  covmcil,  141 ; 
state-appointed  police  board  in,  148. 

Ferries,  in  colonial  boroughs  (New 
York,  Albany,  Philadelphia,  Bris- 
tol, and  Burlington),  81-82;  super- 
vision of,  in  New  York  City,  165, 
166. 

Fines  for  refusal  to  accept  office  in 
colonial  boroughs,  73. 

Fire  departments,  3,  40;  in  colonial 
boroughs,  85-86. 

Fisher,  Walter  L.,  243,  252. 

Fiske,  John,  cited,  56  n. 

Fitchburg,  Mass.,  statistics  of  coun- 
cil, 142. 

Florence,  municipal  conditions  in, 
338-340. 

Ford,  H.  J.,  cited,  23. 

Foreman,  Milton  J.,  241,  249. 

Fort  Wayne,  Ind.,  119;  statistics  of 
council,  142. 

Fort  Worth,  Texas,  appointing  power 
of  council  in,  138;  statistics  of 
council,   143. 

France,  miuiicipal  statistics  in,  277. 

Franchises,  under  Indiana  municipal 
law,  123;  and  public  control,  158- 
163 ;  street  railway,  in  Chicago, 
231  ff. ;  disposition  of  existing, 
when  municipal  ownership  is  in- 
troduced, 272 ;  present  tendency 
to  short-term,  in  United  States, 
273-274. 

Franklin  Parmalee  &  Co.,  231. 

Freemen  in  colonial  boroughs,  60-62. 


G 


Gage,  Governor,  of  California,  31. 

Galveston,  plan  of  municipal  organiza- 
tion in,  13  n. ;  membership  of  com- 
mission exercising  powers  of  council 
in,  127 ;   statistics  of  council,  142. 

Garbage  disposal,  150. 

Gardiner,  H.  B.,  cited,  283  n. 

Gas,  regulation  of  price  of,  in  New 
York  and  Boston,  161-162. 


366 


INDEX 


Gas  companies,  revenues  derived  from, 
188,  192;  revenue  from,  in  Paris, 
216. 

Gas  systems,  franchises  for,  159-163. 

Gas-works,  municipal,  154 ;  in  Scot- 
land, 287;  in  Birmingham,  Eng., 
292;  in  Leipzig,  309;  in  Munich, 
311;  in  Vienna,  323,  324-325;  in 
Bologna  and  other  Italian  cities, 
332,  348-349;  private,  in  Venice, 
347. 

General  property  tax.  New  York  City, 
186;  Philadelphia,  190,  194;  St. 
Louis,  196;  Boston,  202;  Toronto, 
204. 

Georgeana,  city  of  (Agamenticus),  51. 

Germantown,  Pa.,  a  colonial  borough 
(1687),  50  n. ;  charter  of,  55. 

Germany,  municipal  undertakings  in, 
4,  271-272;  dwelling-house  laws 
in,  150.     See  Berlin. 

Glasgow,  tabular  statement  of  finances 
of,  175-179;  revenue  system  of, 
211,  212-213,  216  ff. ;  mimicipal 
telephone  system  in,  287,  290-292; 
tramways  in,  288-290. 

Gloucester,  Mass.,  statistics  of  council, 
143. 

Goodwin,  George  B.,  cited,  231,  261. 

Gorges,  Sir  Fernando,  51. 

Grand  Rapids,  position  of  mayor  in, 
21 ;  statistics  of  council,  141 ;  grant- 
ing of  franchises  in,  160;  board  of 
pubUc  works  in,  171. 

Gray,  J.  H.,  cited,  238,  261. 

Great  Britain,  municipal  ownership 
in,  4,  271-272,  287-292.  See  Eng- 
land and  Scotland. 

Grosscup  decision,  247. 


H 


Harbor  works,  municipal,  in  Scotland, 

287. 
Harding,  George  F.,  235. 
Harian,  John  M.,  240,  243,  248,  253. 
Harrisburg,  Pa.,  council  of,  141. 
Harrison,  Mayor  Carter,  Jr.,  238-239, 

241  n.,  243,  248 ;  cited,  260. 
Hartford,    made    a   city    (1784),    59; 

statistics  of  council,  141. 
Haverhill,  Mass.,  council  of,  142. 
Hazard,  cited,  51,  70. 
Health,   boards  of,  3,  34-35,  40;    in 

Ohio,    106;    in   Cook  County,   HI., 

113. 
Hening,  cited,  56,  67,  65,  71,  76,  77, 

87,  92,  93. 
Henrico,  Va.,  a  colonial  borough,  60. 


Hoboken,  N.J.,  statistics  of  council, 
141. 

Holcomb,  W.  P.,  cited,  66,  75,  80,  82, 
92. 

Holyoke,  Mass.,  statistics  of  coiuicil, 
142. 

Home-rule  charters,  31. 

Hooker,  George  E.,  cited,  261. 

Hospitals,  municipal,  4;  in  New  York 
aty,  152 ;  in  Budapest,  314. 

Housing  of  working  classes,  in  Glas- 
gow, 288;  in  Birmingham,  Eng., 
294-296 ;  in  Vienna,  328 ;  in  Milan, 
343-344 ;   in  Venice,  348. 

Houston,  plan  of  municipal  organiza- 
tion in,  13  n. ;  commission  exercis- 
ing powers  of  council  in,  127  n., 
142. 

Howe,  F.  C,    cited,  68,  262. 

Hudson,  N.Y.,  incorporated,  59. 

Hugo,  C,  cited,  150. 

Humphrey  Bills,  Illinois,  238. 

Huntington,  Ind.,  state-appointed 
poUce  board  in,  149. 

Hutchinson,  Thomas,  cited,  69  n. 


Illinois,  municipal  corporation  act  of, 
18,  19;  powers  of  mayors  in,  22; 
legislative  interference  in  mimicipal 
government  in,  28;  special  legis- 
lation in,  limited  by  law  of  1872,  28 ; 
Cities  and  Villages  Act  in,  111-114; 
council,  mayor  and  other  officers, 
system  of  finances,  and  multiplica- 
tion of  authorities  in  cities  of,  112— 
114 ;  power  of  city  councils  to  create 
local  offices,  137;  mimicipal  street 
railwaj^  authorized  in,  156-157; 
street  railway  provisions  in  con- 
stitution of,  235.     See  Chicago. 

Independent  political  organizations, 
8-9. 

Indiana,  mayors'  power  of  nomination 
in,  22;  municipal  "cabinets"  in, 
25;  scope  of  legislative  powers  in 
relation  to  cities  in,  27 ;  mimicipal 
law  in,  118-124;  members-at-large 
of  councils  of  cities  in,  131 ;  mu- 
nicipal code  in  (1905),  146;  state- 
appointed  poUce  boards  in  cities  of, 
149;  municipal  ownership  in,  167; 
granting  of  franchises  in,  161. 

Indianapolis,  119;   council  of,  140. 

Ingle,  E.,  cited,  67,  65. 

Injunctions,  32. 

Instruction  in  city  government,  350- 
359. 


INDEX 


367 


Insurance  premiums  (fire),  state  tax 
on,  in  Pennsylvania,  192  n. 

International  Congress  of  Statistics, 
278. 

Iowa,  mimicipal  methods  in,  13  n. ; 
"commission  plan"  in,  117  n., 
127  n. ;  number  of  members  of 
coimcils  in  cities  in,  127 ;  members- 
at-large  of  covmcils  of  cities  in,  131 ; 
municipal  waterworks  in,    158. 

Italy,  mvmicipal  statistics  in,  277- 
278 ;  municipal  government  in,  330- 
349.     See  MUan,  Naples,  etc. 


Jackson,  Mich.,  council  of,  143. 

Jacksonville,  Fla.,  council  of,  143. 

Jamestown,  Va.,  a  colonial  borough, 
50. 

Jeffersonville,  Ind.,  state-appointed 
police  board  in,  149. 

Jersey  City,  council  of,  134,  140. 

Jews  in  Vienna,  321-322,  329. 

Johnstown,  Pa.,  statistics  of  council, 
142. 

Joliet,  111.,  statistics  of  coimcil,  143. 

JoumaUsts,  courses  in  municipal  gov- 
ernment of  advantage  to,  357. 

Judicial  control  of  municipal  officials, 
32-33. 

Judson,  F.  N.,  cited,  199. 


K 


Kansas,  municipal  methods  in,  13  n. ; 
"commission  plan"  in,  117  n., 
127  n. ;  municipal  ownership  in, 
155;  franchise  act  of  1903,  160; 
granting  of  franchises  in  (1905),  161. 

Kansas  City,  Mo.,  home-rule  charter 
of,  31 ;  council  of,  140 ;  state- 
appointed  poUce  board  in,  148. 

Kansas  City,  Kan.,  statistics  of 
council,  141. 

Keene,  N.H.,  state-appointed  poUce 
board  in,  149. 

Kent,  J.,  cited,  80,  81. 

Kentucky,  bicameral  council  in  cities 
of,  126. 

Kittery,  a  colonial  borough,  50  n.,  51. 

Knoxville,  Tenn.,  statistics  of  coim- 
cil, 142. 

Korosi,  Josef,  278. 


Labor,  Commissioner  of,  283. 

La  Crosse,  Wis.,  council  of,  128,  143. 


La     Fayette,     Ind.,     state-appointed 

poUce  board  in,  149. 
Lancaster,    Pa.,    a    colonial    borough, 

50  n.,  64;    charter  of,  56;    council 

of,  142. 
Lawrence,  Mass.,  statistics  of  council, 

141. 
Leavenworth,    municipal    waterworks 

authorized  in,  155. 
Leghorn,  municipal  gas-works  in,  348. 
Legislation,  special,  for  cities,  28-29, 

110-111,  114-115. 
Legislatures,     powers     of,     regarding 

cities,  27-32. 
Leipzig,  municipal  conditions  in,  308- 

309. 
Lexington,   Ky.,  statistics  of  coimcil, 

143. 
Libraries,  public,  4,  6-7. 
Library   board  in  Cook  County,    111., 

113. 
License  revenue.  New  York  City,  187; 

Philadelphia,   191;    St.  Louis,   198; 

Boston,  203;  Toronto,  205. 
Lighting    plants,    municipal,    4,    107, 

153-154,  155,  219-229. 
Lincoln,  Neb.,  statistics  of  council,  142. 
Liquor  licenses,   municipal,    184,    187, 

191,  198,  203,  205. 
Little  Rock,  Ark.,  statistics  of  coun- 
cil, 142. 
Local  Taxation  Returns,  England,  275. 
Logansport,  Ind.,  state-appointed  po- 
lice board  in,  149. 
London,  tabular  statement  of  finances 

of,    175-179;     revenue    system    of, 

207-209,     211-213,     215,     216     ff. ; 

municipal    ownership    in,    216-217; 

local     transportation     question    in, 

296-300. 
London     county     council,     207-208; 

tramways  owned  and  operated  by, 

298. 
Lorimer,  WiUiam  C,  243. 
Los  Angeles,  statistics  of  council,  133, 

141. 
Louisville,    members    of    council    not 

paid,  134 ;  statistics  of  council,  140. 
Low,  Seth,  186. 

Lowell,  Mass.,  statistics  of  council,  141. 
Lueger,  Karl,  321,  322-323. 
Lynn,  Mass.,  statistics  of  council,  141. 

M 

Macaulay,  T.  B.,  cited,  49. 
McKeesport,  Pa.,  council  of,  142. 
Maiden,  Mass.,  council  of,  142. 
Maltbie,  M.  R.,  cited,  240. 


368 


INDEX 


Manchester,  N.H.,  council  of,  141 ; 
state-appointed  police  board  in,  148. 

Markets,  in  colonial  boroughs,  79-80; 
municipal,  in  Scotland,  287;  in 
Leipzig,  309;  in  Munich,  311;  in 
Vienna,  323. 

Massachusetts,  legislative  interfer- 
ence in  municipal  government  in, 
28;  early  towns  of,  as  corporate 
bodies,  59  n. ;  state  police  force  in, 
147. 

Matthews,  Nathan,  statistics  by,  134— 
135. 

Mayor,  12,  13;  veto  power  of,  over 
legislative  acts  of  council,  18; 
pedigree  of  the  word  and  position  of 
modern  officer,  20-21 ;  election  and 
payment  of,  21 ;  duties  and  powers 
of,  21-23 ;  in  colonial  boroughs, 
68-69,  76;  in  Ohio  cities,  105-106, 
116;  position  of,  in  Illinois  cities, 
112-113;  of  Chicago,  112  n.;  xmder 
Indiana  law,  120-121,  124. 

Mechem,  cited,  39  n. 

Memphis,  council  of,  127,  128,  141 ; 
municipal  waterworks  in,  152. 

Mercantile  license  tax,  Philadelphia, 
190-191. 

Merchants'  and  manufacturers'  special 
tax  and  license,  St.  Louis,  197-198. 

Merit  svstem  applied  to  municipal 
officials,  43-47,  117-118;  in  Indi- 
ana, 124. 

Merriam,  C.  E.,  collaborator  on  essay, 
173. 

Meyer,  H.  R.,  work  by,  262. 

Michigan,  legislative  power  of  city 
councils  in,  19  n. ;  scope  of  legis- 
lative powers  in  relation  to  cities 
in,  27 ;  legislative  interference  in 
municipal  government  in,  28 ;  cu- 
mulative voting  held  unconstitu- 
tional in,  133  n. ;  m.aximum  pro- 
I)ortion  of  mvmicipal  lighting  plants 
in,  154. 

Middletown,  Conn.,  made  a  city,  59. 

Milan,  municipal  government  in,  340- 
346. 

Mill,  J.  S.,  quoted,  36. 

Milwaukee,  single-chamber  council 
in,  126;  statistics  of  council,  140; 
administration  of  public  works  in, 
170. 

Minneapolis,  charter  of,  32;  appoint- 
ing power  of  council  in,  138;  sta- 
tistics of  council,  140. 

Minnesota,  home-rule  charters  in,  31 ; 
franchises  for  water  supply  and 
lighting  in,  160. 


Minority-representation  schemes  of 
voting,  131-133. 

Mississippi,  municipal  control  of  water 
and  lighting  rates  in,  162. 

Missouri,  legislative  interference  in 
municipal  government  in,  28;  mu- 
nicipal ownership  in,  155;  mu- 
nicipal waterworks  in,  158 ;  regula- 
tion of  water,  gas,  electricity,  and 
telephone  rates  in  cities  of,  162. 

Mobile,  bicameral  council  in,  126; 
term  of  service  in  council  of,  128; 
statistics  of  council,  142. 

Montana,  referendvun  on  franchises 
in,  160. 

Montgomery,  Ala.,  coimcil  of,  131, 
138,  143. 

Moore,  cited,  56. 

Mortgages,  tax  on.  New  York  City, 
189. 

Muller,  Senator,  243. 

MiiUer  Law,  the,  243-247,  250. 

Munich,  municipal  conditions  in,  309- 
312. 

Muncie,  Ind.,  119;  state-appointed 
poUce  board  in,  149. 

Municipal  code  of  Ohio,  105-109. 

Municipal  industries,  revenue  from, 
in  New  York  Qty,  187;  Philadel- 
phia, 191-192;  St.  Loxiis,  198; 
Boston,  203;  Toronto,  205. 

Municipal  ownership,  in  Indiana  cities, 
123 ;  recent  legislation  concerning, 
152-158;  in  European  cities,  216- 
217,  287-302,  303  ff. ;  electric 
lighting  in  Detroit,  219-229;  of 
Chicago  street  railways,  241-259; 
Address  on,  262-274;  need  of  com- 
plete and  uniform  system  of  ac- 
counting under,  268,  274;  in  Scot- 
land, 287-292;  in  Birmingham, 
292-296;  in  London,  296-302;  in 
Vienna,  323-329;  of  gas-works  in 
ItaUan  cities,  332,  348-349;  of 
street  railways  in  Milan,  341-343. 

Municipal-service  revenue  in  Euro- 
pean cities,  216-217. 

Municipal  Voters'  League,  Chicago, 
9,  238,  239,  249. 

Munsell,  J.,  cited,  54,  63,  64,  66,  67,  69, 
73,  78,  79,  83,  86,  87,  88,  91,  93. 

Murray,  N.,  cited,  68,  74,  77. 

Museums,  municipal,  4;  in  Rome, 
337-338. 


N 


Naples,  municipal  conditions  in,  333^ 
336. 


INDEX 


369 


Nashville,  method  of  publishing  city 
ordinances,  139-140;  statistics  of 
council,  141. 

National  Municipal  League,  municipal 
program  adopted  by,  12 ;  provisions 
of  plan,  14,  19,  22-23,  25 ;  instruc- 
tion in  municipal  government  in 
program  of,  350. 

Neefe,  M.,  279. 

Nettlefold,  Mr.,  295-296. 

New  Albany,  Ind.,  119;  state-ap- 
pointed police  board  in,  149. 

Newark,  N.J.,  statistics  of  covmcil, 
128,  134,  140;  administration  of 
public  works  in,  170. 

New  Bedford,  Mass.,  council  of,  141. 

New  Britain,  Conn.,  council  of,  143. 

New  Brunswick,  N.J.,  a  colonial 
borough,  50  n. ;    charter  of,  57. 

Newcastle,  Pa.,  statistics  of  council, 
143. 

New  Haven,  Conn.,  made  a  city,  59; 
council  of,  140. 

New  Jersey,  colonial  boroughs  in,  50, 
57-58,  64  ff. ;  incorporation  of  cities 
in,  59  ;  law  affecting  cities  in,  146 ; 
state  pohce  in,  147 ;  sewerage  system 
in,  152;  municipal  ownership  in, 
157-158;  granting  of  franchises  in, 
160. 

New  London,  Conn.,  created  a  city,  59. 

New  Mexico,  moimted  police  in,  148. 

New  Orleans,  competitive  examina- 
tions for  filUng  municipal  positions 
in,  26;  council  of,  126,  127,  140; 
police  administration  in,  149 ;  un- 
derground sewer  construction  in, 
151. 

Newport,  Ky.,  statistics  of  council,  143. 

Newport,  R.I.,  incorporated  as  city 
(1784),  59;  state  police  board  pro- 
vided for,  149. 

Newton,  Mass.,  statistics  of  council, 
142. 

New  York  City,  expenditure  of,  on 
municipal  institutions,  5 ;  former 
successful  council  organization  in, 
16 ;  a  colonial  borough  (1686),  50  n. ; 
history  of,  as  borough  or  corpora- 
tion, 52-54,  60,  61  ff. ;  receipts 
from  taxes,  as  colonial  borough,  89 ; 
single-chamber  council  in,  126 ; 
number  of  members  of  council  in, 
127 ;  mode  of  election  to  council  in, 
129 ;  minority-representation  vot- 
ing schemes  in,  131-132;  salary  of 
president  of  council,  134;  ordi- 
nances of,  139 ;  statistics  of  coun- 
cil,    140;      state-appointed     police 

2b 


board  in  (1857-70),  148;  extended 
authority  of  police  commissioner  in 
(1907),  149;  tenement  hovise  de- 
partment in,  149-150 ;  seaside  park 
for  municipal  hospitals  near,  152; 
water-supply  system  for,  153 ;  sub- 
ways in,  154-155;  power  of  grant- 
ing franchises  in,  160;  regulation  of 
price  of  gas  in,  161 ;  public  works 
officials  in,  164-166;  tabular  state- 
ment of  finances  of,  174-180;  reve- 
nue system  of,  183-189;  debt  of, 
188. 

New  York  State,  powers  of  mayors  in, 
21,  22;  public  works  departments 
in,  24 ;  grouping  of  related  offices 
in,  25 ;  legislative  interference  in 
municipal  government  in,  28;  ef- 
fort to  limit  special  municipal  legis- 
lation in,  30 ;  administrative  super- 
vision of  schools  in,  34. 

Norfolk,  Va.,  a  colonial  borough,  50  n., 
61,  62,  65  ff. ;  borough  charter  of, 
57;   council  of,  141. 

North  Chicago  City  Railway  Com- 
pany, 232,  237. 

Norwich,  Conn.,  incorporated  as  a 
city,  59. 

O 

Oakland,  Cal.,  coimcil  of,  141. 

Octrois  duties,  French,  214. 

Oesterreichisches  Stadtebuch,  281-282. 

Officials,  municipal,  corruption  of,  6 ; 
defects  of  —  ignorance  and  moral 
deficiency,  7-8;  appointment  of 
minor  municipal,  17-18;  chaos  in 
existing  arrangements  regarding, 
23-24 ;  various  provisions  as  to, 
24-26;  civil  service  rules  applied 
to,  26,  43-47,  346;  in  Ohio,  105- 
106;    in  Italy,  331-333. 

Oglesby,  Governor,  of  Illinois,  234, 
251. 

Ohio,  power  of  establishing  minor 
offices  according  to  code  of,  17—18; 
powers  of  mayors  in,  21 ;  depart- 
ment of  public  service  in,  24-25 ; 
legislative  interference  in  municipal 
government  in,  28 ;  special  legisla- 
tion in,  limited,  29 ;  new  municipal 
code  in  (1902),  105-109,  115-118, 
146 ;  members-at-large  of  councils 
of  cities  in,  131 ;  mvmicipal  plants 
under  new  code,  155  ;  street  railroad 
franchises  in,  158-159;  public  works 
boards  in,  169,  170,  171 ;  Uniform 
Accounting  Law  and  report  on 
municipal  finances  in,  285  n. 


370 


INDEX 


Oklahoma,  municipal  ownership  au- 
thorized by  constitution  of,  158; 
control  of  franchises  in,  163. 

Omaha,  statistics  of  council,  141. 

Omnibuses,  in  Chicago,  230-231 ;  in 
London,  296-297;  in  BerUn,  303, 
306-307. 

Ontario,  report  on  municipal  statistics 
for,  282. 

Opera  houses,  mimicipal,  4. 

Ordinances,  power  of  city  councils 
regarding,  and  publication  of,  139- 
140. 

Oshkosh,  council  of,  134  n.,  143. 

Ownership.     See  Municipal  ownership. 


Padua,  municipal  gas-works  in,  348- 
349. 

Paris,  tabular  statement  of  finances  of, 
175-179;  revenue  system  of,  209- 
210,  214,  216  ff. ;  municipal  owner- 
ship in,  216. 

Park  boards  in  Cook  County,  111.,  113. 

Park  departments,  4,  150 ;  in  Indiana, 
122;  notable  legislation  concerning, 
152;  in  New  York  Qty,  165,  166; 
of  Chicago,  166 ;  of  Philadelphia, 
167 ;  in  Boston,  168 ;  paid  or  unpaid 
boards,  172. 

Parks,  in  Naples,  335;  in  Rome,  337; 
in  Florence,  339;   in  Milan,  341. 

Parmalee,  Franklin,  231. 

Partisan-voting,  defects  of,  8—9. 

Passaic,  N.J.,  council  of,  143. 

Paterson,  N.  J.,  council  of,  141. 

Paving,  street,  150;  in  Munich,  311; 
in  Budapest,  314;  in  Vienna,  328- 
329;  in  Naples,  334;  in  Rome,  336; 
in  Florence,  339;  in  Milan,  340-341. 

Pawtucket,  R.I.,  statistics  of  council, 
142. 

Pay,  of  members  of  councils,  13,  133- 
134,  140-143;  of  mayors,  21;  of 
municipal  officials  in  Indiana,  122; 
of  public  works  officials  in  various 
American  cities,  166,  167,  168,  170, 
172. 

Penrose,  cited,  55,  65,  68,  74,  76,  78, 
80,  81,  83,  84,  85,  87,  91. 

Pennsylvania,  powers  of  mayors  in 
four  cities  of,  22;  public  works  de- 
partments in,  24;  legislative  inter- 
ference in  municipal  government 
in,  28;  colonial  boroughs  in,  50, 
54—66 ;  bicameral  council  in  cities 
of,  126;  appointing  power  of  citj' 
councils  in,  138;  state  police  in, 
148. 


Peoria,  TIL,  council  of,  141. 

Perth  Amboy,  N.J.,  a  colonial  bor- 
ough, 50  n.,  65  ff. ;    charter  of,  67, 

Philadelphia,  competitive  examina- 
tions for  filling  mimicipal  positions 
in,  26;  a  colonial  borough  (1691), 
60  n.,  60,  61,  62,  64,  65  ff. ;  charters 
of,  as  borough,  64-65;  present 
council  of,  126,  127,  129,  134,  140; 
water  purification  plant  in,  162; 
administration  of  public  works 
in,  166-167;  tabular  statement  of 
finances  of,  174-180;  mercantile 
license  tax  in,  190-191 ;  revenue 
system  of,  189-195;  debt  of,  194; 
failiu-e  of  miuiicipal  gas  plant  in, 
271. 

Pingree,  Mayor  H.  S.,  220. 

Pisa,  municipal  gas-works  in,  348— 
349. 

Pittsburg,  bicameral  council  in,   126 
mode  of  election  to  council  in,  129 
members  of  council  not  paid,   134 
statistics    of    council,    140;     water 
purification  plant  in,  152;    director 
of  public  works  in,  169. 

Police,  municipal,  3,  6,  40 ;  state  control 
of,  37, 147-149 ;  in  colonial  boroughs, 
86-88;  of  Toledo,  99;  moimted 
(rangers)  in  Texas  and  in  Arizona, 
148;  in  Chicago,  182;  in  Budapest, 
314—315;  in  Austrian  cities,  317; 
in  Italian  cities,  332-333. 

Police  boards,  state-appointed,  148— 
149. 

Police  commissioners,   149. 

Poll-tax,  in  Philadelphia,  191  n. 

Population  and  representation  in 
councils  of  various  cities,   129—130. 

Portland,  Me.,  statistics  of  council, 
141. 

Portland,  Ore.,  limitation  of  council 
to  legislative  power  in,  19 ;  home- 
rule  charter  of,  31 ;   council  of,  141. 

Proportional  representation  plans  (for 
election  of  councilmen),  131-133. 

Providence,  position  of  mayor  in,  21  j 
appointing  power  of  council  in,  138 ; 
statistics  of  council,  140 ;  state 
police  board  provided  for,  149; 
metropolitan  park  commission  for, 
152 ;  administration  of  public  works 
in,  170. 

Public  Opinion  Law,  lUinois,  242. 

Public  ownership.  *See  Municipal 
ownership. 

Public  safety,  boards  of,  in  Ohio  cities, 
106,  109,  116-117,  149;  in  Indiana, 
122. 


INDEX 


371 


Public  service,  boards  of,  in  Ohio,  105- 
106,  107,  116,  117,  126. 

Public-service  privileges,  retvuns  from, 
in  New  York  City,  188;  Phila- 
delphia, 193;  St.  Louis,  199; 
Boston,  203;    Toronto,  205-206. 

Public-service  revenues  in  Paris,  216. 

Public  utilities,  miuiicipal  ownership 
of,  262-274. 

Public  works  boards,  24-25,  164-172; 
single-commissioner  vs.  bi-partisan 
board  system,  172. 

Pueblo,  Colo.,  statistics  of  cotmcil,  143. 

Pugh-Kibler  code  in  Ohio,  102. 


Quincy,  111.,  statistics  of  coimcil,  142. 


R 


Racine,  Wis.,  mayor  of,  not  paid,  21  n. ; 
council  of,  143. 

Railways,  local  service  of,  in  Glasgow, 
288-289;  in  London,  299-300;  in 
Berlin,  306.  See  Street  railways 
and  Underground  railways. 

Railway  terminal  and  surroundings, 
Rome,  336. 

Rangers  (mounted  police)  in  Texas 
and  Arizona,  148. 

Rapid  transit  board,  New  York,  166. 

"Rates"  in  England,  212. 

Reading,  Pa.,  council  of,  141 ;  ad- 
ministration of  public  works  in,  171. 

Real  estate,  municipal,  295;  in  Milan, 
344. 

Recorder,  office  of,  in  colonial  bor- 
oughs, 69-70,  76. 

Recreation  grounds,  4.     See  Parka. 

Referendum  concerning  special  legis- 
lation for  Chicago,  114;  on  fran- 
chises in  Wisconsin  and  Montana, 
160 ;  on  municipal  ownership  of 
Chicago  street  railways,  243. 

Referendiun  League,  Chicago,  242. 

Revenue  from  street  railway  franchises 
in  Berlin,  305. 

Revenue  systems,  173-217. 

Rhode  Island,  state  poUce  in,  147; 
legislation  concerning  parks  in, 
152. 

Richmond,  Ind.,  state-appointed  police 
board  in,  149. 

Richmond,  Va.,  a  colonial  borough 
(1742),  50  n. ;  councU  of,  141. 

Ridgely,  D.,  cited,  56. 

Riley,  E.  S.,  cited,  65. 

Roads  in  colonial  boroughs,  82-84. 


Rochester,     N.Y.,     council     of,    140; 

commissioner    of   public    works    in, 

169. 
Rockford,    111.,   statistics    of    council, 

143. 
Rogers,  H.  W.,  article  by,  48  n. 
Rome,     population     of     ancient,     1 ; 

municipal     conditions     in   modem, 

336-338. 


S 


Sacramento,  Cal.,  council  of,  128,  143. 

Saginaw,  Mich.,  statistics  of  council, 
142. 

St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  appointing  power  of 
council  in,  138 ;  statistics  of  coun- 
cil, 141 ;  state-appointed  police 
board  in,  148. 

St.  Louis,  board  of  public  improve- 
ments in,  24;  home-rule  charter  of, 
31;  council  of,  126,  127,  128,  129, 
140;  pay  of  members  of  assembly, 
134;  ordinances  of,  139;  state- 
appointed  poUce  board  in,  148;  ad- 
ministration of  pubhc  works  in,  168 ; 
tabular  statement  of  finances  of, 
174-180;  revenue  system  of,  195- 
199 ;  merchants'  and  manufacturers' 
special  tax  and  license,  197-198; 
Budapest  compared  with,  318. 

St.  Paul,  bicameral  coimcil  in,  126; 
statistics  of  coimcil,  140;  admin- 
istration  of  public   works  in,    170. 

Salary.     See  Pay. 

Salem,  Mass.,  statistics  of  coimcil,  142. 

Saloon  licenses.  New  York  City,  184, 
187;  Philadelphia,  191;  St.  Louis, 
198;   Boston,  203;  Toronto,  205. 

Salt  Lake  City,  statistics  of  council, 
141. 

San  Antonio,  Tex.,  coimcil  of,  131,  141. 

San  Francisco,  municipal  corruption 
in,  6 ;  council  of,  126,  127,  133,  140 ; 
state-appointed  p>olice  board  in, 
148 ;  administration  of  public  works 
in,  170. 

Sanitary  improvements,  151-152. 

Savannah,  Ga.,  statistics  of  council, 
141. 

Savings  banks,  municipal,  in  Vienna, 
323. 

Schenectady,  incorporated  as  a  city, 
59 ;   council  of,  142. 

Schools,  4 ;  administrative  supervision 
of,  34;  unprovided  for  in  colonial 
boroughs,  88;  in  Italian  cities,  332; 
teaching  of  municipal  government 
in,  350-359. 


372 


INDEX 


Scotland,  municipal  ownership  in,  287- 
292. 

Scott,  A.,  cited,  57,  64,  68,  70,  72,  73, 
74,  75,  77. 

Scranton,  Pa.,  council  of,  141 ;  director 
of  public  works  in,  169. 

Seattle,  statistics  of  council,  141 ;  ad- 
ministration of  public  works  in,  171. 

Sewer  systems,  150;  in  New  Orleans, 
151 ;  figures  in  regard  to,  151 ; 
canals  used  as,  in  Venice,  346,  347. 

Shauck,  Judge,  opinion  of,  quoted, 
100-101. 

Sheriffs  in  colonial  boroughs,  73. 

Sikes,  George  C,  241 ;  article  by, 
cited,  261. 

Sikes  Report,  the,  241. 

Sioux  City,  la.,  statistics  of  council, 
142. 

Sites,  C.  M.  L.,  cited,  147. 

Slaughter-houses,  municipal,  in  Scot- 
land, 287;  in  Leipzig,  309;  in 
Munich,  311 ;  in  Vienna,  323. 

Smith,  E.  B.,  cited,  261. 

Socialists,  in  Vienna,  321-323;  in 
Florence,  340;  in  Milan,  344-346; 
in  Venice,  348. 

Somerville,  Mass.,  statistics  of  coun- 
cil, 141. 

South  Bend,  Ind.,  119;  statistics  of 
council,  142 ;  state-appointed  poUce 
board  in,  149. 

South  Carolina,  state  police  in,  147; 
franchise  statute  in  (1902),  158. 

South  Omaha,  Neb.,  statistics  of  coun- 
cil, 143. 

Special  legislation  for  cities,  28-29, 
110-111,  114-115. 

Speirs,  F.  W.,  cited,  191,  193. 

Spezzia,  municipal  gas-works  in,  348. 

Spoils  system  in  cities,  39  ff . ;  under 
public  ownership,  267. 

Spokane,  council  of,  142. 

Springfield,  111.,  council  of,  142. 

Springfield,  Mass.,  council  of,  141. 

Springfield,  O.,  council  of,  142. 

State  police,  147-149. 

Statistics,  comparative  municipal,  173- 
218,  275-285;  International  Con- 
gress of,  278. 

Statistisches  Jahrbtich  DetUscher  Stddte, 
279-282. 

Steamers,  municipal  operation  of,  in 
Venice,  347. 

Stewart,  Graeme,  243. 

Stith,  cited,  50  n. 

Stock  transfers,  tax  on,  New  York 
City,  189. 

Street-car  tax,  St.  Louis,  199. 


Street  cleaning,  150;  statistics  as  to, 
151 ;   in  Chicago,  182. 

Street-lighting,  88;  question  of  mu- 
nicipal administration  of,  265-266, 
271,  273;  in  Florence,  339.  See 
Electric  hghting  and  Lighting  plants. 

Street  paving.     See  Paving. 

Street  railways,  bearing  of  new  mu- 
nicipal code  in  Ohio  on,  108 ;  no 
municipal,  in  United  States,  154; 
tmder  lUinois  act  of  1903,  156-157 ; 
franchises  for,  158-163 ;  in  Chicago, 
162,  230-259;  pros  and  cons  of 
municipal  ownership,  266;  munici- 
pal, in  Scotland,  287 ;  municipal, 
in  Glasgow,  288-290;  municipal,  in 
Birmingham,  Eng.,  292,  294;  in 
London,  296,  297-299;  in  Berlin, 
303-306;  in  Leipzig,  309;  in  Mu- 
nich, 311 ;  in  Vienna,  323,  326-328; 
in  Milan,  332,  341-343;  in  Naples, 
334-335 ;  in  Rome,  337 ;  in  Florence, 
339-340. 

Street-sprinkhng  tax,  St.  Louis,  199  n. 

Streets,  construction  and  care  of,  4 ; 
in  colonial  boroughs,  82-84;  in 
Naples,  334;  in  Rome,  336;  in 
Florence,  339.     See  Paving. 

Stubbs,  quoted,  49. 

Subways,  municipal,  154-155 ;  in 
New  York  City,  165;  in  London, 
299;   in  Budapest,  314. 

Suffrage  in  colonial  boroughs,  62-67. 

Superior,  Wis.,  statistics  of  council, 
142. 

Syndic,  oflBce  of,  in  Italian  cities,  331. 

Syracuse,  N.Y.,  coimcil  of,  140 ;  com- 
missioner of  public  works  in,  169. 


Tacoma,  council  of,  142. 

Taney,  Chief  Jxistice,  quoted,  251. 

Taunton,  Mass.,  council  of,  143. 

Taxation,  limitation  on  miuiicipal, 
under  Illinois  law,  113-114. 

Tax  commissioners,  state,  35;  board 
of,  under  Ohio  code,  117. 

Taxes,  in  colonial  boroughs,  88-94; 
assessment  and  collection  of,  in  New 
York  City,  184;  in  Philadelphia, 
190;  in  St.  Louis,  196-199;  in 
Boston,  202-203;  in  Toronto,  203- 
206;    in  European  cities,  211-218. 

Tax  rates,  in  five  American  cities,  180 ; 
in  New  York  aty,  186-187;  in 
Boston,  202. 

Telegraph  and  telephone  companies, 
taxation  of,  Toronto,  204. 


INDEX 


373 


Telephones,  regulation  of  rates  by 
cities,  162;  question  of  municipal 
ownership  of,  266. 

Telephone  systems,  franchises  for, 
159-163;  municipal,  in  Glasgow, 
287,  290-292. 

Tenement  house  department.  New 
York  aty,  149-150.  See  Dwell- 
ings. 

Terra  Haute,  119;  council  of,  142; 
state-appointed  police  board  in, 
149. 

Texas,  "commission  plan"  in,  117  n. ; 
rangers  in,  148 ;  regulation  of  rates 
charged  by  public  utility  corpora- 
tions in,  162. 

Theatres,  municipal,  4. 

Thurston,  Harry  W.,  352. 

Toledo,  O.,  legislative  acts  of  1902 
affecting,   99-101;    council  of,    140. 

Topeka,  Kan.,  statistics  of  council, 
142. 

Toronto,  revenue  system  of,  compared 
with  American  cities,  203-206. 

Town  clerk,  Italian  secretary-general 
corresponds  to,  331. 

Town  criers  in  colonial  boroughs,  87, 
88. 

Town-meeting  system,  58-59;  in 
colonial  boroughs,  74-75. 

Towns,  Massachusetts,  59  n. ;  imder 
Indiana  municipal  law,  119. 

Tramways,  municipal,  in  Glasgow, 
288-290;  in  London,  296,  297- 
299. 

Transportation  systems,  local,  4;  in 
Glasgow,  288-289 ;  in  London,  296- 
300 ;  in  Berhn,  303-308.  -Sec  Street 
railways. 

Treasurer,  office  of,  in  colonial  bor- 
oughs, 72-73;  municipal,  in  Ohio 
cities,  105. 

Trenton,  N.J.,  a  colonial  borough, 
50  n. ;  charter  of,  57 ;  statistics  of 
council,  141. 

Troy,  N.Y.,  statistics  of  council,  141  ; 
commissioner  of  public  works  in, 
169. 

Tuley,  Judge  M.  F.,  111. 

Tunnel,  East  Boston,  154 ;  New  York- 
Brooklyn,  155. 

Tweed  Ring,  6. 

U 

Ulm,  municipal  real  estate  in,  295. 

Underground  railways,  municipal,  154— 
155;  in  Glasgow,  288-289;  in  Lon- 
don, 296,  299 ;  in  Berlin,  305.  See 
also  Subways. 


Universities,   mimicipal,   4;    in   Ohio, 

107. 
Utica,  N.Y.,  statistics  of  council,  141. 


Valuation  of  real  estate.  New  York 
City,  186. 

Venice,  municipal  conditions  in,  346- 
348. 

Vienna,  tabular  statement  of  finances 
of,  175-179;  revenue  system  of, 
210,  215,  216  ff. ;  municipal  owner- 
ship in,  216 ;  municipal  government 
in,  316-329. 

Virginia,  colonial  boroughs  in,  50,  56- 
57;  bicameral  council  in  cities  of, 
126;  law  affecting  cities  and  towns 
in,  146 ;  municipal  ownership  in, 
156 ;  franchise  question  in  new 
constitution  of,  159. 

W 

Ward  election  of  councilmen,  13,  14— 
15;  in  lUinois,  112;  in  Ohio,  115; 
in  Indiana,  120. 

Wards  in  colonial  boroughs,  74. 

Wash-houses,  public,  in  Scotland,  288. 

Washington,  D.C.,  government  of, 
13 ;  no  city  council  in,  140 ;  com- 
parison between  Munich  and,  309. 

Washington  (state),  home-rule  charters 
in,  31. 

Waste  in  municipal  work,  6;  causes 
of,  7. 

Watchmen  in  colonial  boroughs,  86— 
88. 

Water bviry.  Conn.,  statistics  of  council, 
142. 

Water-gas,  in  Vienna,  324-325. 

Water  purification  plants,  152. 

Water  supply,  4,  6 ;  of  colonial 
boroughs,  84-85;  question  of  mu- 
nicipal ownership  of,  265,  271,  273; 
municipal,  in  Birmingham,  Eng., 
292,  293-294 ;   of  Naples,  335. 

Waterworks,  municipal,  152-153 ; 
municipal,  under  Ohio  code,  155 ; 
franchises  for,  158-163;  revenue 
from,  in  New  York  City,  187;  mu- 
nicipal, in  Scotland,  287 ;  in  Leipzig, 
309;    in  Vienna,  323. 

Wemo,  Charles,  249. 

Westchester,  N.Y.,  a  colonial  borough, 
56. 

Wharves  in  colonial  boroughs,  82. 

Wheeling,  W.  Va.,  council  of,  126,  142. 

Whitehead,  W.  A.,  cited,  72,  76. 


374 


INDEX 


Whitten,  R.  H.,  cited,  147. 

Wilcox,  D.  F.,  cited,  20,  97;  quoted, 
47. 

Wilkesbarre,  Pa.,  council  of,  141. 

Williamsburg,  Va.,  a  colonial  borough, 
60  n.,  57,  65  ff. 

Williamson,  W.  D.,  cited,  51,  52. 

Williamsport,  Pa.,  council  of,  143. 

Wilmington,  Del.,  council  of,   141. 

Winthrop,  John,  quoted,  51. 

Wisconsin,  referendum  on  franchises 
in,  160 ;  railroad  commission  super- 
vises public  utilities  in,  161. 

Woonsocket,  R.I.,  statistics  of  council, 
143. 

Worcester,  Mass.,  council  of,  140; 
administration  of  public  works  in 
171. 

Wyoming,  state  examiner  of  public 
accounts  in,  36—37. 


Yates,  Governor,  243. 

Yerkes,  Charles  T.,  advent  of,  in 
Chicago,  237 ;  secret  activity  of,  in 
poUtical  affairs,  237-238 ;  opposition 
to  measures  of,  and  retirement,  238- 
239. 

Yonkers,  N.Y.,  council  of,  141. 

York,  Me.,  50  n.,  52. 

York,   Pa.,  statistics  of  council,   142. 

Yoimgstown,  O.,  council  of,  142. 


Zone  system  of  street  railway  fares, 
270 ;  in  Munich,  311-312 ;  in  Naples, 
335 ;  in  Rome,  337 ;  in  Florence, 
340 ;  does  not  prevail  in  Milan,  342. 


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